Brothers in Time
by Tsunami Storm
Summary: Fourth in the Dragon-prince series. The sequel to my first fanfiction story, Another Chance. Hope you enjoy! Pairings: All canon plus some Mizushipping, 'cause we all know it should have happened in the show! And family fluff, of course. T for some violent scenes and language.
1. Captured

Hi guys! [and girls] I'm back! I've had the idea for a sequel in my head for a while now, but I couldn't think of how to start it. So this is the sequel to my first fan-fiction story, 'Another Chance'. Hope you enjoy! Pairings: All canon, plus some Seth x Kisara [Mizushipping], 'cause we all know it should have happened in the show! ;) T for some violent scenes and language. Don't worry, though. It won't be anything worse than the 'h' word. Anyhoo, on with the story!

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><p>Seto Kaiba was at his desk at Kaibacorp., working on a new project on his laptop. It was around 11:30 at night, and he still had much to accomplish before he could go home and rest. Suddenly the telephone on his desk rang, and he sighed and picked up the receiver. "Kaiba," he spoke into the mouthpiece.<p>

"Seto, do you always have to answer the phone like that? You could just say 'hello', you know," came a small and slightly-annoyed voice from the other end of the line. Kaiba smirked slightly and answered, "I answer like that because 'hello' doesn't tell you who's on the other end quickly enough. What are you doing up this late anyway, Mokuba?"

"I couldn't sleep. When are you gonna be home, Nii-sama?"

"Probably late. I've got a lot of work to do. And before you ask, no, it can't wait 'til tomorrow." he heard an exasperated sigh come through the speaker, and he rolled his eyes. "I'll be home as soon as I finish, Mokuba. Just go back to bed and try to sleep. You have school tomorrow, remember?"

"Oh– fine. I'll try, I guess. Oh! I just remembered! There was another reason that I called you, Seto. I thought I heard something outside. It could just be an animal or something, but I wanted to call you to let you know."

Seto started to worry at his brother's words. He answered carefully so as not to alarm the boy, "I doubt it, Mokuba. There is an invisible fence all around our property to keep animals out. I'm not sure what you heard, but talk to Roland anyway. He'll make sure you're safe." Isono Roland–Seto Kaiba's head of security–had insisted on staying at the mansion ever since his employer's 'accident' a few months previously. One of his former associates–Kemo Saruwatari–had attempted to murder the young CEO for allegedly ruining his life. The incident had left Seto in a deep coma for about two and a half months and had almost cost him his life.

"Okay Seto. I'll see you tomorrow." a suddenly sleepy voice answered. Seto smiled.

"Yeah. Sleep well, kiddo. Good night." he answered.

"Good– AAAHHH!" Scuffling sounds could be heard in the background.

"Mokuba? MOKUBA!" Nothing. No reply came. Seto tried to hear what was going on in the background, but everything was quiet. After a minute he heard faint footsteps in the background.

"Hello Kaiba. It's been a while." came a vaguely familiar voice from the other side of the connection.

"You sick, twisted monster! What have you done with my brother?" Seto shouted, fear for his sibling clouding his eyes. Seth was supposed to be home to look after him! Why didn't he come and help?

"Don't worry, my _friend_. He's safe– for now. If you wish him to stay that way, I need you to do something for me." the strangely familiar voice laughed evilly.

"I don't give in to the demands of psychopaths." Seto growled.

An evil chuckle followed this statement. "Ah, well. That's too bad then, isn't it? If I don't get what I need– who knows what could happen to young Mokuba here…"

Seto Kaiba sighed in defeat, his concern for his brother overwhelming his desire to be strong. "Fine! Have it your way!" he answered, "Just don't hurt him! What do you want?"

"Oh, I'm not asking for much. Just some information and tech from Kaibacorp. Plus a few funds for certain– expenses. I'm sure you know what I mean." Seto could almost hear the grin in his voice.

"Just give it to me straight, you psychotic monster. What do you want?" he threatened.

"Well I'm not sure I like that tone of yours, Kaiba. You want to be careful. Mokuba's life is in my hands now. As for my demands, I would like you to bring ten million dollars in bearer bonds, along with all your latest developments in technology to me within 48 hours. If you don't show up– well, I think your family has suffered too many losses already, don't you? It would be _tragic_ to lose another."

Seto was nearly hyperventilating by this point, his fear for his brother's life was so great. Through sheer strength of will, he was able to keep his voice steady at least. "All right. I'll do it. Where do you want me to meet you?"

"Ah, I see you've decided to cooperate, Kaiba. Well I thought we could play a little game. If you find me within a day, then I will return your brother unharmed. However, for every hour that passes the twenty-four hour mark, your brother will feel the pain of your failure."

"Wait! If you don't tell me where you are, how am I supposed to find you?" Seto cried.

He could hear the kidnapper's smirk switch to a frown. "You're supposed to be the genius, Seto. _You_ figure it out!" _Click._ The line went dead, and all Seto could hear was the dial tone. He exhaled sharply in exasperation, not liking that the kidnapper had called him by his first name. He then set the desk phone back in its holder, grabbed his briefcase and jacket, then sprinted out the door to his office and to the elevator, slamming the lobby button as he dashed inside. Once in the lobby, he ran to the doors and flung them open, then ran as fast as possible to the nearby parking garage. Once there, he dove into his red Ferrari, jammed in the key and started the vehicle. He arrived at the Kaiba mansion in record time, not even bothering to close the garage door. The staff would take care of it. That is if any remained in his employ after what had happened tonight. He ran to Mokuba's room first, just in case of the tiny possibility that this was only a terrible nightmare. When he found it empty, he sighed. So much for that theory. He exited the room and turned to the room across the hall, Seth's bedroom and study.

When he entered the room, he felt distinctly out of place. Seth had papered the walls of the bedroom with various drawings of hieroglyphs and had left a space above his desk. This place of honor was reserved for a large painting of a white dragon with blue eyes. Seto almost smiled, knowing how his brother felt about Kisara, Seto's soon-to-be sister-in-law. A large bookcase stood between the desk and the closet, filled with various copies of scrolls, books, pamphlets and other liturgical materials. On the desk rested a sheet of parchment, and a small reed pen lay next to it. Seto smirked and shook his head at his brother's old-fashioned methods. _This is the 21__st__ century Seth, not 3000 B.C. Stop living in the past._ Mokuba and Noah had been helping Seth and Kisara adjust to living in this modern age, and so far both were proving to be quick learners.

Leaving the room, Seto crossed the hall to his office/bedroom. Upon reaching the door he began to see signs of the struggle that had occurred not half an hour before. There were dents in the wall and something that looked horribly like blood was splattered on the ceiling. Seto could only pray that it was not Mokuba's. Looking down at the floor, he gasped. Seth was lying on the floor, apparently unconscious. Seto tried shaking him gently to wake him up, and after a minute he came to. Seth groaned slightly as he sat up, putting a hand gently on the side of his head and rubbing it. He spotted Seto and exclaimed, "Seto! He's taken Mokuba! You must hurry! We have to– Why am I on the floor?"

Seto looked at him carefully, trying his best to control his emotions for the moment. "Mokuba's gone, and so is the monster who took him. I'm guessing he knocked you out, and it seems he hit you pretty hard, judging by the size of that bump on your head. Do you remember anything?" he finished, looking at the man who could be his twin brother.

Seth slowly shook his head. "My sincerest apologies, Seto. The last thing I remember is Mokuba's scream and running to your office. After that it is still blank." He bowed his head in shame, knowing that he had failed to do as he had been charged. He had failed to keep young Mokuba safe, and now he would accept the consequences. Seto turned to get a bag of ice from the kitchen when Seth added, "Wait. I think I do recall something more. I caught a glimpse of the assailant. I did not see his face, but darkness surrounded his being like a shroud. From what I could tell, his skin was as dark as mine, or very nearly so. He wore dark clothing, and had– wild, white-blond hair that was shaped into spikes–" Seth stopped suddenly, as Seto had gasped in shock at that moment. Seto stood up and grabbed his cell phone from his inside jacket pocket and dialed a quick number. He put the device to his ear and walked out of the room, leaving a still-confused Seth sitting on the floor. "This is the Cairo Historical Museum, my name is Amy. How may I help you?" came the greeting after three rings.

"This is Seto Kaiba. I need to speak to Mr. Malik Ishtar."

"All right, Mr. Kaiba. One moment please." The clacking of keys could be heard as the receptionist typed on the keyboard. "I'm sorry Mr. Kaiba, but Mr. Ishtar is currently in a meeting. However I think they are just about finished. May I put you on hold until they are through, and have Mr. Ishtar call you back?"

Seto huffed. "Fine. But I can't wait too long. If he's not out of there within ten minutes, he's going to have a lot of complaints to deal with." After he was done speaking, he half-listened to the pre-recorded hold messages. He descended the staircase to the ground floor of the mansion, then walked to the kitchen, opened the freezer door and grabbed the bag of ice that was sitting on one of the shelves. Closing the door, he returned to his office and threw the bag to his brother, who caught it reflexively. "Put it on your head, it'll reduce the swelling." Seth nodded his thanks and comprehension, then gently put the bag against the side of his head. Immediately the pain began to recede. _Ah, the miracles of solid, frozen water, or as Mokuba called it, ice._

Seth looked up at his brother, who was leaning against his desk, still listening to the recordings. Seth glanced around the room and raised a surprised eyebrow at the spots of blood on the ceiling. Like Seto, he too hoped that the blood belonged to the assailant and not to his little brother. He quickly reached for the magic within him and performed a quick sweep of the mansion, checking to see if anything else was wrong. Suddenly he gasped. "Seto! The Millennium Rod! It's–"

"Gone. I know. I figured he might take it. It makes sense that he would." Seto interrupted grimly. His worry about this whole situation had now skyrocketed, and he was having a hard time keeping a calm exterior mask over his barely-concealed emotions. However one small part of him felt relief. At least Noah and Kisara were unharmed by all of this. Kisara had spent the whole day with the girls. Téa had mentioned something about a 'shopping spree' this morning, but Seto hadn't been paying much attention. Kisara had called late in the afternoon to tell him that she would be spending the night with Téa, as it was very late by the time they had finished shopping.

Noah had spent the day and night at Yugi's place, trying to make up for his disastrous first meeting with everyone. Seto smirked at the memory. Apparently Mahaad and Mana still remembered everything that had happened when they were known as the Dark Magicians. Mahaad had recognized Noah as still being their enemy, and had overreacted and almost attacked the confused boy. Luckily Atem had stepped in and explained the situation before anyone was hurt, but it had been a very close call.

Suddenly Kaiba's phone vibrated once, and he returned the device to his ear, saying, "It's about time Malik," distinctly annoyed at having had to wait so long.

"Sorry Kaiba. I was in an important meeting. One of the downsides of discovering a five-thousand-year-old temple to a dragon. What do you need?" [Yep, same temple from 'Another Chance' and 'Dark Magic Destiny'.]

The tone was polite, but Seto could detect a hint of weariness in the other young man's voice, and knew that he hadn't enjoyed the meeting one bit. This next bit of information wasn't going to make his day any easier, either.

"I was just wondering if you had any idea how your insane dark half got out of the Shadow Realm."

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><p><span>End of chapter 1<span>

Next chapter teaser: Confusion

Whoa! Now _he's_ back? Uh-oh! This doth not bode well, methinks.

Yeah, Mokuba's been kidnapped for the umpteenth time. Again. I know, it's getting a little old.

Thanks to Araghast for telling me what kind of car Kaiba has. And for helping me with Marik. My own attempt was rather pitiful.

Constructive Criticism/Suggestions will be carefully considered and added,

Compliments will be eaten like cookies, *gets crazed look in eye* MMM, COOKIES.

And flames will be put in the fireplace where they belong.

Tsunami Storm


	2. Confusion

I forgot the disclaimer again! Oh well. Here it is.

_**Disclaimer:**_ I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh!, the anime or the dubbed version. If I did, I would re-write Kaiba's character to not be such a jerk in the dub. Anyway, Yu-Gi-Oh! belongs to Kazuki Takahashi. However, I _do_ own Hana Itonami. She's my OC, and appeared in my first story. Well, on with the chapter!

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><p>Mokuba woke slowly with a light groan of pain. He cast his eyes around the dark room, but couldn't determine anything about his surroundings. Shifting to adjust his position, he heard the soft clank of metal against metal. Moving his arms and legs slowly, he found that he had been chained to a metal panel that was part of the wall. He tried to wriggle his small hands out of the shackles, but it seemed as if they had been made specifically to fit the wrists of someone just his size. Still disoriented, he tried one more time to look around him, but it was still in vain. The cold room was as black as his hair. He couldn't even see his hands on either side of him, though he could still feel that they were there.<p>

Returning his chin to his collarbone, he tried to get what sleep he could before his kidnapper returned.

However, his attempt was interrupted. Just as he had closed his eyes, he heard a weak groan to his left. The voice sounded older than he was, and quite a bit deeper. Mokuba turned his head in that general direction and whispered, "Hello? Who's that?"

His answer came following another groan and the clink of chains against metal. "My name isn't important. The question is, 'who are you'?" The stranger's voice was rough and weak as if he had Strep, or had been forced to swallow scalding liquid so hot that it burned his throat. Mokuba grimaced. Knowing his captor, it was probably the latter. However he didn't let his musings affect his tone as he answered, "My name's Mokuba Kaiba. Seto Kaiba's my big brother. I'm sure you've heard of him."

"Yeah. I've heard of him. Who hasn't?" The stranger chuckled weakly. "Doesn't he have an older brother too? I remember reading something about the Kaiba family gaining three members. Two boys and one girl."

"Yep." Mokuba confirmed. "Seth is my new older brother. Noah's the other one. He appears to be my age, but he's actually as old as Seto is. Then there's my sister Kisara. Or should I say almost-sister-in-law. The way Seth looks at her– the wedding can't be far away now." Mokuba looked worried as he thought of his oldest brother. "I hope he's okay. He tried to protect me from Marik, but then that freak hit him really hard with the Rod and he collapsed. I hope Seto wasn't too mad at him when he got home. It wasn't his fault."

The stranger spoke up then. "Kisara? I– that name seems familiar. Does she have sapphire-blue eyes, waist-length white hair and fair skin?" he asked.

"Yeah. How'd you know?" Mokuba queried, confused. He tried to look at his companion, but the darkness hadn't lightened at all. He could barely see his own nose on his face.

"I think– I knew her once– a long time ago." The young man answered after a moment. "I don't remember much. That's why I didn't tell you my name before. I _know_ that it's not what that man calls me. I think it's A– Ak– well, something with an 'A'."

Mokuba looked over in the general direction of his amnesiac companion in pity and asked, "Do you remember where you're from? Maybe I can help. I've been to a lot of places. America, Domino obviously, Egypt–" He heard a rattle of chains as he mentioned the last place, and he guessed that the stranger had looked up suddenly. "Yes! It was somewhere in Egypt. I'm starting to remember now. My village was called– Kul-Elna."

"Kul-Elna?" Mokuba echoed. He had heard Atem and his friend Mahaad talking about that place a few times. Apparently Kul-Elna had been a village falsely accused of being one of criminals, when in reality it had been a simple farming village of just 101 people. They had been attacked and rounded up by the pharaoh's armies and sacrificed to forge the cursed Millennium Items. Only two inhabitants of the village escaped the carnage. A young girl–whose name was unknown–had been staying with her relatives in another village. The other was her younger brother, who hid from the soldiers and was forced to watch as his entire village was massacred. This young boy became consumed by his hatred for the royal family of Egypt, and thus became a vessel of Zorc to spread his evil throughout the world.

When Zorc was defeated, the Millennium Items lost their power to steal souls, as the Lord of Darkness was no more, but still retained their other abilities that were neither good nor evil. That was what Atem had told him shortly after he'd received the Millennium Rod.

Mokuba was interrupted in his musings by the sound of a rusty door creaking open. Bright light flooded the room and Mokuba was forced to close his eyes and turn away for a few seconds while his eyes adjusted. "Ah! New guests! Are you enjoying yourselves?" asked a gloating voice that echoed through the cellar. "And what have we here? I never turn down good flesh. Especially not one of my old friends– have you missed me, Bakura?" Mokuba gasped. _Bakura?! No way!_ The boy looked over at his companion–expecting to see spiky white hair and demonic brown eyes that were almost red–but was shocked at what he saw instead.

The young man chained to the wall did not look like the Bakura he remembered. This teenager had dark skin and bluish-violet eyes. He still had the same white hair, though it looked different than what he was used to. The boy also had a nasty-looking scar under his right eye that kind of looked like an upside-down cross. He was wearing only a thin pair of navy shorts that were slightly too big for him. Mokuba was suddenly glad that his captor had let him keep his warm outfit on in the cold, damp room.

Taking a closer look at the boy who was apparently Bakura, Mokuba noticed a strange look in his eyes, one that he'd only seen once before. It was a look of defeat, as if the boy had given up all hope. He'd seen it in the pharaoh's eyes when Joey attempted to ask for a plane ride to Florida during that Orichalcos ordeal with Dartz, after Yugi had been– soul-napped? Was that the right word? Bakura had the same defeated look on his face, although the grief and the pain of loss was absent this time. Mokuba also noticed a large collection of bruises and small wounds covering the boy's body.

He was not given time to observe anything else however, as his captor now turned his attention to him. Mokuba tried to control his emotions like his brother often did when he was upset, but he was not as experienced and could not assume the mask before the man came over to him. Marik walked up to the boy–holding his brother's Rod in his right hand–and struck him across the face with his left.

"What are you grimacing at, whelp? At me?!" he snarled. "Wipe that pitiful look off your face, will you? You don't want to displease me! I won't be so gentle when I'm angry." he growled while he stared at his prisoner through narrowed eyes. "Oh wait, let me guess. 'My brother's gonna rescue me, and then you'll be sorry!', right?" he said in a mocking mimic of Mokuba's voice. Laughing evilly, the man pulled Mokuba's hair back so that he was forced to look him in the face. "In your dreams! He'll never find this place, even _with_ that sorry excuse for a spellcaster helping him. Seth. HA! I could cast more powerful spells mere _seconds_ after my birth! And he's had what, over five-thousand years, and he can't even summon a simple _trap_? Pathetic!" Mokuba frowned at the man mocking his brother, then remembered that he was supposed to mask his emotions and feelings in tough situations like Seto had taught him. This man was wrong. Seth was more powerful than this freak would ever be! He'd just been caught off-guard, that's all!

Marik continued mocking the rest of Mokuba's family, but the insults no longer seemed to have any effect on the young boy. The man scowled and switched to a different tactic. If emotional abuse wouldn't work, he would try phys– Wait. He'd promised Kaiba that he would not harm the boy if he found them within 24 hours– Curses! An admittedly unlikely scenario, but Kaiba was resourceful, he'd give him that much. Out of torture options, he growled and turned to the door, dark cape swishing behind him.

It probably wasn't the best idea that Mokuba had ever had. Okay it was definitely the stupidest, but he couldn't resist. "Hey Malik! What happened to your face? Your nose looked like a squashed tomato!" the boy called after the retreating figure.

Marik wheeled around, glaring murderously at his younger captive. Stomping back over to where Mokuba was chained, he shoved the Millennium Rod in the boy's face. "You are _so_ lucky that I need that tech and info from your brother, you little brat. Otherwise I would make your life a living Hell! I lost almost a _quart_ of blood because of what you did last night! Not that I didn't enjoy the experience. Anyway, do you know how bad that is for someone in my condition? I'm only half-alive as it is! If it hadn't been for–" He paused, not wanting to give anything away, "my– associate, I'd still be in the Shadow Realm. And don't confuse me with that weakling. I am _Marik_! Don't you forget it!" Sweeping from the room, he slammed the door behind him, once more plunging the boys into utter darkness.

After the footsteps faded away, Bakura let out a snort of amusement, then proceeded to howl with laughter. "_You_ did that? HA! I was wondering what happened to him when he brought you in here. Priceless!"

Mokuba grimaced instead, replaying the scene in his mind's eye as he recounted it for his curious companion.

–Flashback–

"Yeah. Sleep well, kiddo. Good night." Seto said over the phone.

"Good– AAAHHH!" Mokuba yelled as he was grabbed from behind. The assailant had the boy in a tight headlock and was dragging him toward the door of the office. All of a sudden Seth ran into the room, but was not prepared to block an attack and the kidnapper struck him hard over the head with the Rod that he had stolen from Seto's bedroom next door. Seth collapsed to the floor, unconscious, while Mokuba continued to struggle in his captor's grip. He could hear his brother's frantic voice from the phone on the floor and wanted to reply, but the villain had his hand over his mouth so he couldn't scream again.

The abductor retrieved the Rod from behind his back and hit his captive over the head. Not too hard, but enough to knock him out for a few minutes at least. He needed to make his demands to the CEO of Kaibacorp.

When Mokuba regained consciousness, Marik had just finished his demands and ended the call. He then threw the phone onto the ground and stepped on it, breaking it into pieces with a _crunch_. So Kaiba would have to buy a new desk phone, he didn't care. Mokuba did, however. He mustered up as much strength as he could, balled his left hand into a fist, then threw a punch right into Marik's face. His nose made a crunching noise of its own when Mokuba's hand connected with it, and Mokuba squirmed slightly at the nausea-inducing sound. Blood gushed out of the fiend's nostrils, spraying the previously spotless white ceiling red in countless places.

The most disgusting thing about it was not the wound or the blood, however, but Marik's reaction. He did not howl or shy away as anyone else would have done. Instead he blissfully observed the look of horror and disgust on the young boy's face with his violet eyes as his long tongue slipped out of his mouth and twisted up to his nose in a manner Mokuba would have deemed impossible under normal circumstances. Marik's grin stretched from one ear to the other as he tasted some of his own blood for the first time since he had regained his flesh.

"Ahh, such delicious violence!" he grunted in ecstasy. His eyes were closed in joy, so he could not see how Mokuba fainted at this last display of depravity.

–End Flashback–

"Nice." Bakura chuckled again when Mokuba had finished. "I've been wanting to do that for _weeks_. A broken nose is the _least_ he deserves. And it figures that he would react like that. He hasn't changed at all."

"No he hasn't." Mokuba agreed. "Hey, do you have any idea how he got out of the Shadow Realm?"

The young man shook his head, and Mokuba could hear his chains rattling as he did so. "Nope. I have no idea. All I know is when that freak brought me to this time, he– had someone else with him. He looked a lot like your brother actually, but he had dark– _scars_ almost, under his eyes. They were both laughing, but I couldn't understand why."

Mokuba gasped. _Oh no! Not _him_ too! Are _all_ the dark sides coming back now? First Malik's, then Ryou's, now Seto's?! This is crazy! Well, this guy isn't the same as Yami Bakura–_ Mokuba amended to himself. _He just _looks_ like him._ Then something else his companion had said caught his attention. "What do you mean, 'brought you to this time'?" Mokuba gasped again. "Wait a minute! Does that mean you're from five-thousand years ago? Like Seth and Kisara?"

The young man who looked like Bakura shrugged this time and answered, "I'm not sure. I heard about an expedition to Egypt a few months ago to restore eleven 'nobles'–as they were called–to this time. Among them was the pharaoh from _my_ time, Atem. Marik must have brought me back by similar means. I don't know _why_, but I'm not complaining. I think I prefer this time to my old one."

"Wait a minute!" Mokuba cried as the pieces finally fell into place. "You're the vessel for Zorc! You're Thief King Bakura!"

This outburst from his young acquaintance caused the memories to come flooding back. Ruining the pharaoh's coronation festival– resurrecting Zorc in the ruins of Kul-Elna– his defeat at the hands of the pharaoh in that underground chamber. Then vague, cloudy, yet recent memories began to surface. Trapped in the Millennium Ring for countless years– trying to protect a young man from a dark, nearly overwhelming force and failing most of the time (Ryou)– helping a tall young man in a brown coat (Tristan) flee from security guards in a labyrinthine castle– though there were times when the darkness interfered there too–

"Oh no," the white-haired teen moaned. "What have I done?" He sniffled, and soon quiet sobs could be heard echoing in the dark, nearly empty room. "What have I _done_?" the boy whispered between ragged breaths. Mokuba suddenly felt a surge of pity for the young man who he knew should be his enemy. "I let my– hatred– consume me." the boy continued. "Never– stopping to determine– the truth. Who was– really– responsible. I just– blamed the pharaoh– because they were– the pharaoh's men. I was– an easy pawn– for Zorc to manipulate–" the boy returned to his broken sobs, unable to continue.

"You mean," queried Mokuba, "that wasn't really _you_? It was Zorc working _through_ you?" he paused. "Oh! Well I guess that kinda makes sense. Zorc was Yami Bakura, and you were still– _you_, trying to help Ryou. Okay. It's kinda weird, but I think I get it." he finished, looking at his companion.

After a few minutes the quiet sobs ceased, and Bakura looked over in Mokuba's direction, saying, "I know that I'll never be able to repay you and everyone else for what I've done, but I hope that someday you will find it in your heart to forgive me."

"Don't sweat it, pal. It wasn't really _you_ that did all that. It was Zorc. You were trying to hold him back as much as you could."

"Yes, but _I_ was the one who invited him _in_ in the first place."

"Don't worry about it. Like my brother always used to say, 'The past is history! There's nothing we can do to change it.' What matters is what you do now."

Bakura sniffled a little bit, then replied, "You're right. Your brother is wise beyond his years."

Mokuba laughed. "Well _I_ actually added that last part. It's not very comforting the other way. Seto can be a little blunt sometimes."

Bakura chuckled too. "Yeah, I remember _that_ from Battle City. Too bad I was unconscious for the Finals. I would have liked to see the pharaoh's duel with Marik."

"Oh you would have _loved_ it! Yugi played this one card, 'Ragnarok' or something, and all of his monsters came to the field and lifted Ra into the sky through this spell circle that Dark Magician cast. It was awesome! That left Marik with just one Life Point, then Malik took over and conceded the duel to Yugi, sending his evil side to the Shadow Realm."

...

"I heard somewhere that only the _creator_ can send their dark side to the Shadow Realm, and if they do the yami can't get back out again. If that's the case, how did Marik get out?" Bakura asked after a time.

Mokuba thought for another moment. "That's true. If your creator sends you to the Shadow Realm there's no coming back. Maybe Seto's dark side helped him get out. The pharaoh sent him to the Shadow Realm in Duelist Kingdom, not Seto. Maybe he found a way to get back and brought Marik with him. Or maybe Zorc got them both out. I doubt that, though. Atem destroyed him in the Memory World with the help of Horahkty–or so Seto told me–so I don't think he was involved."

"Wow. I never thought _Seto Kaiba_ would have a yami. Doesn't he always deny the existence of magic?"

"He used to, before his accident a few months ago." Mokuba supplied. "But I guess after everything that's happened, he finally believes. Anyway, that thing isn't a _true_ yami. It was created from Gozaburo's cruelty. Seto created it as a mask–a _shield_, kinda–to protect himself from going completely insane. The way Gozaburo treated him– If I didn't know better, I'd say _he_ was a pawn of Zorc's too."

Bakura fell silent for a moment after that. Minutes later he looked up again and muttered, just loud enough for Mokuba to hear, "Well, when your brothers come to rescue you, I hope you guys get out safely. They wouldn't even consider letting _me_ go, after everything I've done."

"Well if _they_ don't free you, _I_ will. You deserve a normal life too. Hey, we gave _Akunadin_ another chance, and Zorc manipulated _him_ at some point too. Seth wasn't too happy about it, but he agreed in the end. Akunadin was the one who killed Kisara, see. He wanted Seth to be the pharaoh, not Atem. So he killed the vessel of the White Dragon and urged Seth to command it so they could rule Egypt as father and son. Seth wouldn't have anything to do with his father, so Akunadin kind of– possessed him and forced him to duel Atem. Atem lost, but the White Dragon Ka somehow destroyed Akunadin and freed Seth from his influence. Now Akunadin lives somewhere in Domino, and Seth and Kisara live with us."

"So that's what happened. Wow. Poor Seth. He lost his father and the woman he loved all in a few hours."

"Well, Seth sees it a different way. He says he lost his father when Akunadin joined Zorc. Before that he didn't even know that his father was still alive! He thought he'd died in battle a long time ago. He lost his mother when he was twelve. He met Kisara in a thieves' encampment and rescued her. The bandits retaliated by destroying his village, killing everyone. They were gonna kill him too, but then the White Dragon appeared and destroyed the bad guys with a White Lightning attack. I can understand his amazement when he described the event. The first time I saw one of Seto's Blue-Eyes attack– there's really no words for it." the boy smiled in wonder as he relived the event in his mind's eye.

"I agree. The White Dragon is one of the most magnificent Duel Monsters." Bakura replied after a minute, smiling, glad for the change in topic.

"Yeah." Mokuba agreed fervently. He took one more look around the almost-empty room, then turned to his new friend and said, "I think we should make some plans about how we're gonna get out of here when Seto rescues us."

* * *

><p><span>End of chapter 2<span>

Next chapter teaser: Cursed

What is this, Yugi Wars: Return of the Yami?! First Marik, now Seto's evil half? Our heroes have their work cut out for them this time!

Until next chapter!

Tsunami Storm


	3. Cursed

Another chapter for you guys! Thanks to all of you who reviewed and or PMed me. This chapter contains a flashback from one of the characters. As always, flashbacks will be flanked by -Flashback- inserts. 'Tis also impossibly long. I just couldn't bear to end it sooner, it was too fun to write! Ah well. Read, Enjoy, and Review!

* * *

><p>Domino City, the next day, around noon–<p>

The rain pelted with rare fury against the windows of the two-story game shop/residence. Atem and Mahaad were locked in a fierce battle, determination burning in their eyes. Yugi and Mana watched apprehensively as their two oldest friends prepared to clash once again in the struggle. Finally Mahaad raised his right hand with a grim smile and brought it down, calling out, "I summon 'Shadow Ghoul' [1600/1300] in Attack mode. Sorry my king, but it looks like I've won again."

Atem scowled in mock displeasure at his friend as his Life Points decreased to zero. "So it seems." he chuckled. "Well-played, Mahaad! It seems five-thousand years did nothing but _sharpen_ your skill!"

Mahaad laughed. "Well it helps when you can actually get to know the _monsters_ behind the cards." he stated as he shook his pharaoh's and opponent's hand. "Shall we play again? Perhaps Amen [goddess of victory] will smile upon you _this_ time." he smirked, his topaz eyes twinkling with mischief.

Atem laughed as well. "No, old friend. I think it's time I bowed out gracefully. Besides, I have sensed a challenge in Yugi's eyes for some time now." he turned to Yugi. "Aibou? Would you like to duel against your favorite former monster?" he asked as he raised an eyebrow.

"As cool as that sounds, Yami– er– Atem, I don't think I'm ready for a duel like _that_ yet. That wasn't a game, that was a gladiator battle!" Yugi laughed nervously. The two players chuckled as well. "I was actually thinking of challenging Mana. She's had just as much experience as you did Mahaad–in the Dominion of the Beasts I mean–but I've never really seen her duel."

"Sure, Yugi! I would be honored to play against you!" Mana flipped out of her chair and onto the floor next to the card table. "Let's duel!" they called out in unison. They had just cut and shuffled the other's decks when the shop doorbell sounded. "Come on in," Solomon Mutou greeted cheerfully. "What can I help you– Kaiba! What happened, son?"

Yugi, Atem, Mahaad and Mana had jumped up at the mention of Kaiba's name and hurried to the store portion of the house. There in the doorway stood their friend, Seto Kaiba. He was soaking wet from the rain and looked as though he were about to collapse. "Yugi," he managed to choke out, "I need– your– help–" before falling unconscious to the tiled floor.

…

When Seto woke up, he was lying on a couch with a blanket draped over him. He was still wearing his drenched clothes, and felt slightly uncomfortable that he was getting the Mutou's furniture wet. Yugi, Atem and the two spellcasters came into the room at that moment, and Mana handed the young man a mug of hot chocolate. Seto nodded his thanks to the girl, who smiled and sat down on the chair next to him. Yugi sat still for a moment, studying his feet thoroughly, then looked up as he noticed Kaiba looking at him. "What happened, Kaiba?" he echoed his grandfather's question from earlier.

Seto sighed as he began to summarize the events of the previous night.

–Flashback–

"_What_ did you say, Kaiba?" Malik questioned in shock. No. It couldn't be true! "This can't be happening!"

"I'm afraid it _is_ happening, Malik. All of it. It's Battle City all over again." he hesitated. "No, it's much worse. Now that freak is loose in his _own_ body! And he's got Mokuba _and_ the Millennium Rod! Not that I really care about that thing, so much as what he could _do_ with it–" he stated, earning a glare from Seth as he did so. He raised an eyebrow at his brother, then shrugged it off. He cared more about his brother than some silly magical axe-type thing.

"I understand your concern Kaiba. Believe me, I do. Unfortunately I have no answer to your question. As far as I know, only a yami's creator can send it to the Shadow Realm permanently. The scriptures never said anything about them coming _back_. They only said it was possible if the yami was banished by someone other than its creator. But that wasn't the case with me."

Malik's words struck a memory within Kaiba's subconscious. "It may be with _me_," he answered. "It's a long story, but Pegasus somehow got my– yami– to Duelist Kingdom to defeat Yugi, wanting to take over Kaibacorp. for some reason. Yugi had freed me from my dark side a few weeks previously in a Shadow game. I didn't know it at the time, but it was my first of many. Long story short, Yugi beat that creep and sent him to the Shadow Realm. I'd thought we were done with him then. I guess not."

"So you think that our 'dark sides' are working together on this?" Malik questioned after a short pause.

"It's the only thing that makes sense. After all, Yugi– um, I mean Atem– destroyed Zorc in that weird Memory World thing in Egypt, so how else would your yami have gotten out?" Seto replied grimly.

"Wow. First ancient prophecies and now _this_? The gods must really love messing with you, Kaiba." Malik joked to lighten the mood a bit.

"This is hardly the time for levity Malik, but you _do_ have a point there." Seto chided as Seth snorted. He glared at his twin for a moment, making a mental note to remind his brother of the saying about eavesdroppers. "Anyway, just thought I'd give you a heads up, just in case he decides to come after you guys next." _Click._ Kaiba ended the call with a sigh.

Malik held the phone to his ear for a second longer, then returned it to the receiver with a confused expression. His sister noticed this, and he answered her unspoken inquiry. "I never thought I'd see the day that _Kaiba_ would show concern for any being outside his immediate family."

Ishizu smiled. "Kaiba's accident changed him in more ways than one, Malik. And most of those changes were for the better."

Seto returned the cell phone to his coat pocket, then retrieved his trademark jacket from where he had thrown it on the floor and started to put it on. Sensing his brother's emotional state, Seth questioned, "Where are you going? It's two in the morning."

Seto turned to look at his brother with a mask of determination on his face, hiding the turmoil beneath. "I'm going to look for Mokuba. If you want to come along and help, I suggest you hurry."

–End Flashback–

"Since then I've been running all over Domino, searching every building I could find." Seto finished. "Oh, and I ran into another– 'friend' on the way. Ziegfried Von Schroeder is here too. Apparently Leon was kidnapped at the same time Mokuba was. We promised to call the other if we found their brother first." he finished dejectedly.

Everyone in the room breathed in a collective gasp of horror at the new development. Not _Leon_ too! Noah had entered the room in the middle of his brother's tale and was now sitting beside Seto on the large sofa.

"But why would they take Leon? It doesn't make sense." Yugi queried after a minute of silence.

"Plan B." Seto answered. "If they couldn't get _me_ to cooperate with their demands, they were probably gonna use tech from Schroedercorp. to do whatever they need to do. However, I doubt that Schroedercorp. has even _started_ on this level of programming yet. After all, the stuff they need isn't your everyday holo-technology. It's top-secret. I'm shocked that they found out about it. Actually no I'm not, now that I remember who Marik's partner is." he broke off, scowling.

"Why do you say that, Seto?" Noah asked. "What's top-secret? What exactly do they want?"

Seto looked over at his step-brother. "The tech I used to bring _you_ back, Noah. That and ten million in bearer bonds. But that part's easy."

"Wait a minute," Mana interrupted quietly, "If he uses that technology–" She gasped. "He and his accomplice will–"

"Have their own _full_ bodies, yeah. You can imagine how bad that would be. With Marik's power and my dark half's knowledge, they could be ruling the world by the end of the _week_." Seto answered, mildly impressed with the young spellcaster's knowledge.

"What?! Can they really do so much damage in just three days?" Atem questioned, horrified.

"That's the _best_-case scenario, I'm afraid. Once they get their own bodies, they could destroy the whole planet by this time tomorrow. The Millennium Rod is that powerful." Seto moaned, dropping his head into his hands. He really hated losing his appearance of total control in front of people, but right now he felt completely powerless.

The gang had never seen Seto Kaiba seem so– defeated. Yugi had called Tristan, Téa, and Joey to fill them in and asked them to come over as soon as possible. They had agreed and were now seated in the Mutou's already cramped living room. Noah placed a comforting hand on Seto's shoulder, and although he flinched at the contact at first, he gradually accepted it. After a long while, Seto sat up straight again and stared at the card table. For the first time, Yugi noticed the dark, almost black circles under his friend's eyes.

"Kaiba," he chided gently, "When was the last time you had more than two hours of sleep?"

Kaiba chuckled humorlessly. "Last week Tuesday. I picked a great time for a week-long, all-nighter marathon, huh?"

Joey's jaw dropped open. "Okay dat proves it. Kaiba's a robot. No _normal_ human being would be _dat_ insane!"

Kaiba chuckled darkly again. "I guess that was payback for all the times I've questioned _your_ mental health, huh Joey?" he smirked up at the blond duelist.

"Nyeh, maybe. I couldn't resist." Joey laughed. "Jus' like ol' times, right Kaiba?"

"Heh. Yeah. We've even got the psycho-maniac kidnapper who wants us all dead. What are we missing?" Seto asked sarcastically.

"The _action_. That's what we're missing." Tristan provided. Everyone looked at him. "So what are we waiting for, guys? Let's find our friends!"

* * *

><p>Somewhere in Domino's warehouse complex, near the docks–<p>

Ziegfried ran from one empty warehouse to the next, searching for his little brother. He had been searching this area for hours and so far had found nothing to show for his efforts. Suddenly he heard footsteps just ahead of him. He gasped quietly and ducked behind the nearest wall, then crouched down and listened.

"So how are our 'guests' today, Marik?" a vaguely-familiar voice sounded in the slight fog, a brief reprieve from the storm that passed by earlier. Ziegfried didn't like how the man had said the word 'guests'. Could these be the fiends who took Leon?

"Better than I'd hoped, my friend. 'Raven-hair' continues to struggle, but once we get that tech from your weak side, we'll put him out of his misery. Our albino friend on the other hand has apparently resigned himself to his fate. Pity," the second man sighed, "I had grown fond of listening to the sweet music of his screams and the captivating art of his pain-filled expressions. It seems the shrimp has taught him a few things in the trade of mask-making."

'"Huh. No doubt the boy learned it from my weaker half. I hated him, but I have to admit, that boy was a natural when it came to concealing his emotions."

Ziegfried risked a peek around the corner at that moment, and received a shock at what met his eyes. A wild-haired blond man that fit the description given to him by Herr Kaiba was talking to none other than Seto Kaiba himself! The traitor! He was helping the enemy! But wait– Kaiba was searching the opposite side of town at the moment, looking for his brother. Kaiba was in the same situation as he was. Also this man did not look exactly like Kaiba. His blue eyes were blank and lifeless, and he had black scars under them. And his skin– his skin was bone-pale, paler than Ziegfried had ever seen. The man was also impossibly thin, and although Herr Kaiba possessed a similar lanky physique, he was never anorexic as this man appeared to be. What was going on?

"What are you doing out here, anyway?" the man called Marik asked after a moment. "What if someone sees you? Your striking resemblance to Kaiba is rather conspicuous. If someone spots you, our whole plan could be ruined, and that would be very– inconvenient."

"Spare me the lecture, would ya? I was getting some fresh air. That warehouse is musty and moldy. You'd risk detection too if you were cooped up in there 24/7!"

Marik merely rolled his eyes and stalked off. Just before he turned the corner and vanished, Ziegfried heard him ask, "Speaking of your weaker half, have you perfected your– _surprise_ for him yet?"

The doppelganger Kaiba turned toward his accomplice and Ziegfried couldn't see his evil grin. "Trust me my friend. Kaiba won't know what hit him." he laughed as he entered the warehouse and slammed the door.

"I haff got to varn Herr Kaiba. As much as I despise heem, Ziegfried Von Schroeder ees no murderer. Nor does he allow zem to continue een zair plans." he whispered to himself as he dialed the number he was given earlier.

* * *

><p>Domino City proper, an hour later, the Game shop–<p>

"Well, I'd better get back out there and look for those kids. Thank you for the hospitality Dr. Mutou, and for the help you guys. I appreciate it more than I can say." Kaiba stated as he opened the door to the renewed hurricane-like weather outside.

"Wait a moment, Kaiba," Solomon Mutou stopped him. "You can't go outside in this weather, it's too dangerous. We don't want you to get hurt on top of things."

Kaiba scowled, but he saw the wisdom in the older man's words. He sighed and shut the door carefully, then walked back to the couch and sat down again. "I guess you're right. But I've only got eleven hours left to find Mokuba, or who _knows_ what those freaks will do to him. –and Leon." he added after a moment.

_Brrrriiinnnngggg!_ Kaiba's cell phone rang at that moment. Téa retrieved it from its place on the counter, since she was closest, and at a nod from Kaiba, answered it.

"H-hello?"

"Vhy Guten Tag, Fraulein. Ees Herr Kaiba zere? I need to speak viz heem." Ziegfried greeted.

"I'm guessin' dat's Ziggy?" Joey asked, uncertain, as Téa handed the phone to its owner.

"Gee whiz Captain Obvious, what gave _that_ away?" Tristan laughed at his old friend.

Téa smiled at her two friends but shushed them silently. Kaiba needed to hear where Mokuba was, and hopefully Leon as well.

"Uh-huh. Uh-huh. Figures. Don't worry about me, I'll keep an eye out. Did they say anything about _your_ brother?" Kaiba asked at a break in the conversation. He paused. "Oh, okay. Well I'm sure we'll find him. They wouldn't keep them separate, it's harder to guard them that way." Pause. "If I find Leon first, I'll be sure to free him and keep him safe. You have my word. All right. Stay out of their sight, you have no idea what those maniacs are capable of. _I_ do." Another pause. "I have a pretty good idea about that too." Pause. "Some kind of misguided revenge. Yeah, same old, same old. Well, good luck." then he hung up.

Kaiba turned to Yugi and his friends and said, "He found where they're keeping Mokuba. No word yet on Leon, but I think they would keep them in the same building if not nearby. It's down by the docks. The same place where that duel was that Yugi and Joey had– where he was brainwashed by Malik?" he added at their confused expressions. Comprehension dawned on their faces, and Seto nodded once.

"That's ironic. That's where Malik stashed me and Mokuba last time." Téa contributed. Joey remembered, and he nodded too. Then he jumped up suddenly and said, "Well wat are we waitin' for, everybody? To da docks! –Why did that sound familiar?"

Tristan and Yugi laughed. "That's almost exactly what you said before we went on that expedition in Egypt, Joey!" Yugi told him, still chuckling. [See 'Another Chance']

"Oh yeah! Heh. Forgot 'bout dat."

Seto–who was at the door already–merely shook his head in exasperation and smirked slightly. Wheeler would never change.

* * *

><p>The docks, ten minutes later–<p>

When the gang burst through the rusty doors, everyone's jaw dropped. The were at the entrance to a maze. Kaiba suggested that they split up at the first fork. He and Seth would go one way and the others plus Ziegfried would go the other way. Everyone agreed and the team separated. Mahaad and Mana had elected to stay behind to protect Yugi's grandfather in case of a surprise attack. Yugi had agreed.

…

Hours later they _still_ hadn't found any trace of their missing family or friends. Joey looked at his watch. It was ten minutes to midnight. Kaiba had less than ten minutes to find Mokuba or he would lose him for good.

Seto and Seth raced through the maze, trying not to think about what would happen should they fail. Seth was just as determined as Seto was to make sure Mokuba was okay. He had failed to keep his new family safe the first time, so he absolutely would not fail again. The brothers tried every door they came to, Seth breaking down the ones that were locked. The last door that they tried led to–of all things–a gladiator's arena similar to the Roman Colosseum, complete with roaring and cheering crowds of people.

"You've _got_ to be kidding me." Seto complained as he viewed the arena floor below. There were two chariots facing each other, and the wild-haired freak was standing in one of them already, brandishing both a cat-o'-nine-tails and the Millennium Rod. Seth smirked at his brother. "Better let _me_ handle this test, Seto. I know my way around our four-legged friends."

"I bet you do." Seto answered, grinning in spite of himself. "but the chariot design is a little different than what you're probably used to."

"HA! I earned my reputation as a Guardian by being _adaptable_. This test will be mere child's play, you'll see." Seth laughed as he descended the steps to the ring. _"Besides,"_ he communicated with his mind, _"if Marik is beaten here, then we are that much closer to rescuing Mokuba. Maybe Bes [god of fortune] will be with us and he will tell us _where_ our brother is being held as well."_

_"I doubt it."_ Seto thought back. _"Try to reclaim the Millennium Rod. It _is_ yours, after all. And it'll probably help a lot."_

_"Wrong, Seto. It is _yours_ to wield now. My time as its Guardian has passed. However if you wish it, I shall hold onto it for the time being."_ Seth replied as he leaped into the ring with a small somersault.

Marik glared at Seth from across the arena and thought, _Showoff. I was hoping to challenge _Kaiba_ to this test. I didn't think he'd bring _this_ loser along._ Aloud he shouted, "Ah, finally! A challenger wishes to test his skill against the champion! Who will earn the laurel of victory? We shall see!" and with that he snapped the reins to charge his horses at Seth.

Seth rolled his eyes. _Figures he'd cheat. One is supposed to wait for the signal before starting a competition._ Using his magic, he checked the temperament of his own chargers. _And he's given me crazed horses on top of it! Good thing I took this challenge. Seto would surely have been killed in this test._ Summoning the smallest amount of power, he calmed the snorting beasts with a calm touch and a few short, soft words. Then he drew his knife and leaped into the chariot, flexing the reins gently.

The horses somehow sensed his wishes through the signal and immediately broke into a hand gallop, then into a flat-out run. As the chargers neared one another, Marik raised the arm with the cat-o'-nine-tails and Seth raised the one with his ceremonial knife. He wielded his clearly-outmatched weapon in a manner that blocked most of the whips and wound them harmlessly around his own wrist. He could not block all nine of them though, and some of the strays lashed against his back. Seth winced, but managed to relieve Marik of his weapon. Surprising himself, Seto cheered with the rest of the crowd at the brilliant maneuver by his brother.

The two chariots raced past each other and turned for a second pass against their opponents. When Seth turned, Seto could see in his eyes that this next pass would be the final in the arena. The two chariots lunged for each other again, and Seth and Marik both held their last weapons high, Marik the Rod and Seth his knife. Briefly Seto wished that Seth possessed a sword rather than that very small throwing knife, to make it look like more of a gladiator's battle, but he soon shook that thought away. He wouldn't be allowed to carry a sword in this century.

The chariots were nearly on top of each other at this point, and Seto watched the match with bated breath. As the warriors clashed, Seth's knife barely grazed Marik's right cheek as it fell from his hand as his arm collided with Marik's. In a split second–so fast that Seto almost missed it–Seth brought his empty fist down on his opponent's head as hard as he could, knocking him senseless. Then flicking his hand up faster than Seto thought humanly possible, he snatched the Millennium Rod from Marik's grasp.

As soon as Marik had lost consciousness, the Colosseum disappeared and with it everything inside except for Seth, Seto, the Rod and Marik. Seth's blade lay a little ways away on the cement floor, and Seto picked it up to return it. Seth ran to a stop after the sudden change in location, but Marik was not so lucky. His unconscious body dove onto the floor headfirst and slid to a stop just before reaching the cement wall. [Ooh, face-plant! That had to hurt!]

"I don't envy him the headache he'll have when he wakes up." Seth said, wincing. He then healed the lashes on his back with a quick spell, then motioned for Kaiba to follow. "Let's find our brother." he said, opening the rusty warehouse door in front of him. Seto nodded and handed him his knife, deciding to congratulate his brother on another occasion.

The last door in the hallway led to a large empty room. Water puddles were everywhere and were constantly growing as holes in the cheap roofing let raindrops in. At the back of the dark room stood a rather tall, extremely thin young man. As the brothers approached, the man said without turning around, "I've been waiting for you, Seto."

"What is the meaning of this?" Seth shouted. "Marik looked human enough to me. So why did you need that technology to restore him? And where are our brother and friend being held?"

"Oh _he_ didn't need it, _I_ did. But not anymore. Since you boys were generous enough to practically _hand_ us the Millennium Rod, that tech is superfluous now. Oh, I see you've reclaimed it. I guess my associate was no match for the 'terrible twins'. Ha! You _did_ bring the other requirement though, didn't you?" he asked almost innocently. For an answer, Seto threw his briefcase at him. As it landed it snapped open, displaying the exact contents that had been demanded as a ransom for Mokuba. "There. It's yours. Now give us our brother back!" Seto shouted, barely containing his fury.

His dark side looked up and lied through his teeth, "I don't know where he is, and honestly I don't care. Your friends probably already found him by now."

"I swear to you, you demon. If you have harmed him in any way, I will make the Shadow Realm look like it was _paradise_ to you!" Seth vowed.

The monster merely laughed evilly at the threats, then raised a bone-pale hand and faced his open palm toward the weakened Seth. Recognizing what the fiend was about to do, Seto tackled his brother out of the way just as the sphere of Dark Energy collided with him instead of its intended target. The blast struck him in the chest, and the energy traveled to his heart, where it lodged and pulsed painfully.

Seto fell to the ground with a gasp and grasped the injured area, but although he was feeling pain like he'd never experienced before, he could find no wound where the energy had entered his body. Still laughing maniacally, the villain left the room to rouse his accomplice Marik.

* * *

><p>"I knew that idiot would take the shot for his brother," the doppelganger laughed as the two villains left the area some time later. "He was my <em>real<em> target, anyway. Revenge never tasted sweeter."

"I agree, but violence is a close second." Marik snickered, wiping the blood from his gashed cheek and licking his fingers. "Ahh, so sweet." he muttered to himself.

"You some kind of Egyptian vampire or something?" his associate asked incredulously. Then he shrugged. He didn't want to know.

* * *

><p>Seto was on the ground, writhing in agony. He tried to keep his screams to himself, but couldn't hold them all back. Seth ran over to him and tried to help, asking, "Why, Seto? I do not even really belong in this world. Why sacrifice yourself to save <em>me<em>?"

With great effort, Seto turned his head up to look at Seth, groaning weakly, "Oh, don't tell me _you've_ never done something stupid to save someone you cared about." he grimaced in pain as another pulse surged through his body. "Besides," he continued, "your 'second chance' started only a few months ago. It wouldn't be fair to lose that now, after so short a time." He bit back another scream as his brother stared at him with shocked and tear-filled eyes. "Go." he ordered. "Go save Mokuba and the others, Seth. They– mean more– to this world– than I– ever– will–" Seto shuddered as he ended his final request and exhaled for the last time.

"No–" Seth breathed, not wanting to believe his own senses. "NO! Seto!" he cried. "Why, Osiris? Why must you always take the ones I love most? My family, Kisara, now my _brother_? Please! Do not let this be true! Please–" he broke off, sobbing and collapsing onto his brother's still body.

Minutes later, Seth's tears were replaced by blazing determination. As he stood up, magic swelled up around him like a pyre and he looked like the deity for which he had been named: Set, god of the desert, chaos and destruction. He vowed that he would destroy the monster who did this, as well as free his young brother from their grasp. He held the Millennium Rod in his right hand, then raced through the doors to where Mokuba and the other prisoners were being held.

* * *

><p>Yugi and his friends raced through the maze of rooms, trying desperately to find their young friend and brother, Leon Von Schroeder. Ziegfried was frantic, trying every door to every room he could find. "Leon! Vere are you? Call to me eef you can heer my voice! LEON! Bruzzer! Vere are you?" he called desperately, but received no answer.<p>

"Mokuba! Kaiba! Seth! Where are you guys?" Joey called. Running alongside Ziegfried in the labyrinthine warehouse, he too tried every door he came across. "Moku– Whoa! Hey guys! I found 'im! Dey're in here!" and he dashed through a doorway on the left-hand side.

Mokuba looked up as his other rescuers barreled into the room. Seth was busy trying to remove the chains from the young teen's ankles, and Téa decided to free Mokuba's hands. She quickly found her bottle of hand lotion and started rubbing it on the boy's wrists. "Uh, Téa? Is this _really_ the time for baby-soft hands?" Tristan asked incredulously.

"No, genius. It's grease to get the chains off him!" Téa snapped back at him, slightly annoyed. Despite the severity of the situation, and what he had just witnessed, Seth couldn't help smirking in amusement. How had the young man not seen _that_?

Mokuba called to the others. "Hey guys, free my friend over there! I know what you're gonna say, but he's not the same person. I wouldn't be here without him. He saved my life!" Joey walked up to the other youth, then jumped back in alarm.

"GYAAH! It's Bakura! Wait– what'd you say Mokuba? He _what_?!"

"He did! I don't know _how_ he did it, but I _do_ know _why_. Marik was gonna kill me 'cause Seto hadn't shown up yet, and Akefia summoned a soul-shield somehow and blocked his attack! He saved me, even at the cost of his own life-force!"

"Well if he saved Mokuba, he can't be _all_ bad." Serenity said quietly. Finding her own hand lotion in her bag, she worked to free the unconscious boy from his bonds. He collapsed to the floor when she had freed his left hand, and Serenity and Yugi each took an arm and helped him off the floor.

Mokuba had been freed by this point, and Joey stretched his back and stated, "Now all's we gotta do is find Zig-freak an' Leon. Oh, an' Kaiba. Wonder where he ran off to?"

Seth closed his eyes tight for a moment and bit his lip. He could not tell his friends the truth just yet. The grief was still too near. He looked up and suggested, "You guys go on ahead and find your other friends. I will find Seto. No doubt he is repaying your captors in full, Mokuba." _Ra, forgive me for that lie._ He turned and ran with what everyone thought was a weak chuckle, but in reality was a barely-concealed sob.

…

It was within only a few minutes that Yugi and company found the two heirs to Schroedercorp. Ziegfried had just finished removing Leon's manacles when the group burst in. After a quick check-up, they surmised that Leon was relatively unharmed compared to Mokuba and Akefia. Mokuba suggested that they all stay at the mansion, as it was quarter to one according to his wristwatch. Everyone agreed, then they all returned to the mansion to wait for Seth and Kaiba.

…

Seth found the room where he had left his brother's body with little difficulty. He _had_ blasted the door to cinders when he'd left, so it was easy to find the room again. When he entered the room however, he received a most horrifying shock.

The room was completely empty.

* * *

><p><span>End of chapter 3<span>

Next chapter teaser: Changed

EEK! Don't kill me! I _promise_ Kaiba will be back! Poor Seth, though. You gotta feel sorry for him!

Wow. This chapter totaled _ten_ pages on MS Word. That's a record for me! Sorry it's so long. I just couldn't stop writing! It was too interesting!

This is also the first time I ended a chapter without a quote. Weird.

Well, see you next time! *sees furious fangirls in distance* EEP! Or maybe not!

Tsunami Storm


	4. Changed

Here's chapter 4 for you! I'll bet _none_ of you saw _this_ coming! Read, Enjoy, and Review!

* * *

><p>Domino General Hospital, a few days later–<p>

Akefia woke with a slight groan at the bright light shining in through his window. He shifted slightly, then hissed in pain as some of his wounds rubbed against their bandages. Wait, _bandages_? Where was he?

"Oh good. You're awake." said a familiar voice with a British accent.

"Ryou?" Akefia whispered. "Is that your voice? Or is it the darkness again?"

Ryou Bakura frowned at the obvious fear in the young man's voice. In truth, he had always felt that someone or something had been trying to help him whenever his yami took over, but he had always viewed it as his own strength fighting against the darkness. Now he realized that this young man from five-thousand years ago had been battling Zorc for far longer than he had, and had been trying to protect him from it. If not for this boy's efforts, Ryou doubted that his friends would have ever seen his face again. Zorc would have been the dominant personality 24/7.

"Yes. It's me. You no longer need fear the darkness. Zorc is gone for good. Atem destroyed him more than a year ago."

"He did? Thank the gods! That means I– _we_– are finally free." Akefia sighed in relief.

Ryou chuckled weakly, once again mentally thanking his friends for releasing him– _them_. "I know you must feel like celebrating right now, but you need to take it easy. Your injuries are not healed yet. Get some rest." he comforted.

Akefia nodded, then laid back down on his pillow and closed his eyes. Ryou smiled slightly, then left the room and returned to the hospital lobby where the rest of his friends were waiting. Yugi, Joey, Tristan, Téa and Mokuba were sitting on a few of the chairs, and looked up when Ryou walked over. Answering the question in all of their eyes, he said, "He _seems_ to be harmless. But then again, Zorc was a good actor too. I'm still not sure if I can trust him. I got the feeling that he was really scared of the– darkness–as he put it–ever returning. There's no chance of _that_ happening, though." he grinned at Yugi, who returned the look. "Once he has recovered, I'll keep an eye on him at my place for a few weeks. If he really is changed–as he says he is–then I'll gradually allow him more freedom. I don't like the idea of holding him prisoner, but I don't want anyone to get hurt again." At their obvious looks of displeasure, he laughed quietly, "Don't worry about me. I can handle him and take care of myself. If he tries anything– well, I've still got the Millennium Ring."

The rest of the group nodded, then Mokuba spoke up. "Well that's one problem solved. Now we just gotta find out what happened to Seth and Seto. They should have been back by now." he sniffled, fighting back tears. Joey put a comforting hand on the teen's shoulder and tried to reassure him, but his efforts went unnoticed by the black-haired youth. Mokuba sighed. There was only one person he wanted to see, and he wouldn't give up until he _and_ Seth were safe at home.

* * *

><p>The Kaiba Mansion, the same time–<p>

Kisara hummed tunelessly to herself as she resumed stocking her wardrobe with all the clothes she bought on her first 'girl's day out' with her friends new and old. It had been nearly impossible to choose between all of the beautiful outfits at the market– no, _mall_ as it was called in this time, so she had purchased all of her favorites. She had never imagined that so many colors were even possible to put in clothing, as she had owned only that tattered beige dress when she had lived in Egypt. Seto had given her at least six rectangles of an odd material, and had explained that these '_credit cards_' were a form of currency in this time. He'd also said not to worry about spending as much as she wanted, as there was more than enough 'funds' in her 'account' to cover whatever she desired.

Kisara smiled to herself as she thought of her new brother. How closely he resembled Seth! Not just in appearance, but in attitude and personality as well. However, she could clearly see in his eyes that he was constantly hiding something. Something painful, and that was why he was so serious all the time. This trait reminded Kisara of her younger brother back in Egypt. He too was always serious, because he felt responsible to protect his mother and sister after the death of her father. He'd had white hair like his mother and Kisara had, but resembled _his_ father in the color of his blue-violet eyes and the rest of his physical appearance. Kisara had inherited her mother's exceedingly fair skin, or she supposed that she was so pale because she possessed the Ka of the White Dragon.

Kisara shrugged in uncertainty about the origin of her unique appearance, then sighed with sorrow. She had been absent when her home village was attacked by the pharaoh's soldiers, for some dark and unknown purpose. She hadn't learned what happened until years later when she was kidnapped by a band of slave-traders. Then she had been rescued by a brave young man whose name was Seth, although he had pronounced it 'Seto' at the time, as was the custom back then. Kisara's smile returned when she thought of her true love. She had transformed for the first time to protect him, when the marauders had destroyed his village. And from that day on, Kisara had vowed to use her power to protect the innocent and destroy the wicked.

"Oh Akefia." Kisara whispered as another wave of sadness washed over her, "I wish I could have protected _you_ my brother, just as the White Dragon protected so many others."

* * *

><p>Deep in the forest, two hours after sunset–<p>

Seth poked at the small campfire with a large twig that he'd found, rearranging the logs to keep the flames burning. He'd used his power to track his brother's energy to these woods, but so far hadn't found any trace of Seto. Not that the current situation made any sense in the first place. He'd seen Seto _die_. How then could he have moved _here_? Seth shook his head and sighed. Some mysteries of life could never be explained.

…

Hours later Seth had just started to drift into an uneasy doze when a familiar yet unusual sound reached his small camp. It was the unmistakable keening of a dragon, yet it was somehow different. Seth started awake immediately. There were no dragons in this time! They had all been hunted to extinction long ago. So why had he heard one just now?

The sound came again a few minutes later, and Seth realized why it had seemed different. It was a cry of pain. The dragon had been hurt! Seth jumped up from his makeshift seat–a fallen tree that had been dead for years–and rushed into the forest to help the stricken creature. Half an hour later he found where the beast had been hiding, a rather large yet hidden clearing. As he approached the dragon cautiously, he could not suppress a gasp of wonder. A Blue-Eyes White Dragon lay just in front of him, its eyes closed and its body moving gently with its controlled breathing. Seth looked at the magnificent beast in confusion. He couldn't see any wounds on the dragon from his position, but then he spotted something that confirmed the source of the pain. Clear, sparkling tears were running from the dragon's closed eyes, and _hiss_ing steam as they made contact with the cool earth beneath. Seth then knew that the creature's pain was not physical, but emotional.

He approached the resting dragon carefully, soundlessly stepping closer and closer to the beast's head. He gently touched a calming hand to the dragon's neck just behind the head, and inhaled sharply in shock. This dragon– was _Seto._ Somehow his brother had been transformed into the Blue-Eyes White Dragon!

Seto seemed to calm slightly at his touch, but then opened his eyes and jumped twenty feet backwards faster than any human eye could see. He growled defensively and Seth heard clearly the telepathic message that the dragon– _Seto_ had communicated to him. _"No! Stay away from me! Leave me be!"_

Seth sighed once he had recovered from the sudden shock, then once again tried to approach and comfort his brother who was now a dragon. Seto growled again, saying with his mind, _"Get back, Seth! Get away from me!"_ he almost roared. Then in a mental voice as quiet as a whisper, he added, _"Please. I don't want you to get hurt."_ Then he unfurled his powerful wings and flew off into the midnight sky.

Seth raised his hand as if to stop him, but it was too late. Seto had fled. He sighed in defeat, then returned slowly to his camp. He stoked the dying fire a few more times with the stick, then rested his back against the old tree trunk and watched the renewed flames. _Seto will return when he's ready._ Seth thought to himself. _I'll just have to be patient and wait. –I hate waiting._ Then he turned over on his side and drifted off into sleep.

* * *

><p>Seto flew over the forest for a few minutes, then looked back through the trees to where Seth stood. He had his arm raised as if he'd tried to stop him, but then he lowered it and sighed heavily. With his dragon eyes, Seto could clearly see the pain on his brother's face, and guilt sent a pang through his heartstrings. He growled in annoyance, then circled slowly to land in another nearby clearing. He'd have to apologize to Seth later. <em>If there <em>is_ a later,_ he thought glumly. He slowly lowered his body so that his sternum rested on the cool ground, then curled his neck and touched his nose to his hind foot and closed his eyes. Then he folded his outstretched wings over himself like a makeshift tent and fell asleep.

…

Just as dawn was breaking, a small white kitten with emerald eyes crept quietly into the clearing. She silently padded over to where Seto had just woken up and sat down ten feet from the gigantic dragon. Seto saw the tiny creature through one of his sapphire eyes, and growled threateningly in an effort to make the kitten go away. He didn't want to accidentally hurt it.

The kitten acted as if it hadn't even heard his warning, and stared at him with an odd look that clearly stated, _That's not gonna work on me._ Then the kitten rose to its feet and started stepping towards the dragon, clearly not afraid in the slightest. Seto backed up a few paces, afraid for the kitten. He thought, _Dumb cat. Why can't it see that I'm dangerous?_ He tried to communicate that thought to the cat, and saw a different look in the cat's eyes than from earlier. This look said, _Dumb dragon. Why can't it see that it's strong enough not to hurt me?_

Seto jerked his head back in surprise. This was no normal kitten. Slowly as to not alarm the tiny creature, Seto extended his neck and lowered his head to the kitten's level, then gently sniffed. The cat's scent was somewhat familiar. It smelled of roses and cherry blossoms, as well as saltwater from the sea. Seto couldn't remember where he had encountered that particular combination before, but he drew back his head and gradually allowed the small kitten to approach.

The kitten sauntered over to the intimidating beast, then rubbed its head and back against the smooth scales on the dragon's underside. Seto flinched at the contact at first, but then relaxed as he admired the fearless feline's courage. The kitten purred as it continued to rub against him, and then looked him right in the eye and gave the cutest 'mew' he'd ever heard. Seto smiled despite himself, then curled back up to get a few more hours of sleep. The kitten padded over to where Seto's head rested, then curled up between his hind paw and underside and fell asleep as well.

…

Hours later, Seto woke up to the light of the setting sun. He realized with a jolt that he'd slept through the whole day as well. Then he shrugged. At least he'd caught up on his sleep after his 'all-nighter marathon', as he'd called it earlier. When he turned around, he noticed that the kitten from earlier had vanished, although he could still faintly smell roses in the clearing. So he _hadn't_ dreamt it.

With a groan, Seto slowly got to his hind legs and unfurled his wings. It was time to find Seth and apologize for his actions yesterday.

* * *

><p>Seth was slowly preparing a simple stew when Seto approached his camp. Seth kept his eyes on his work, but smiled and asked softly, "What made you decide to come back?"<p>

Seto huffed and released a bit of steam to the heavens. _"I was thinking about it all night,"_ he thought in reply, _"but it was this tiny white kitten that convinced me in the end. It had huge emerald eyes and the most courage I'd ever seen in any human or animal. It seemed to know what I really was _inside_, rather than what I appear to be."_

Seth nodded. "_That_ will never change, no matter _what_ form your body takes." he said sagely to his brother. The dragon slowly nodded, then crept closer to the camp and sat behind his brother, resting his head on the log to Seth's left. Seth again put a comforting hand on the dragon's head, and this time Seto did not shrink away. "Do not worry, Seto. We'll find a way to reverse this. Have faith, and never give up hope." After he had said this, he got up and ladled a small serving of stew into a plain wooden bowl that he had whittled that day. Seto raised a scaly eyebrow at his brother, and Seth answered, "It's venison stew. I found an injured buck not far from here and discovered that it wouldn't have survived much longer anyway. The rest of it is still over there if you're hungry. Or you can have some of this if you want." Seth offered. Seto shrugged his giant shoulders and walked off to find the deer. Seth smiled and continued to enjoy his evening supper.

After he'd finished the first deer, Seto had smelled a small group of five more nearby and realized that he was still hungry. After capturing a few and quickly snapping their necks, he finished the rest of his meal. When both brothers had finished eating, Seto returned to the campsite, making sure to clean off his mouth after his messy meal. After all, it _had_ been his first time eating something like _that_. Seth greeted him with a smile and a nod. Seto returned the gesture as best as he could, and Seth laughed at the resulting face he ended up making. [It looked kind of like when Toothless smiles in HTTYD, though I wrote this chapter a while before I saw that movie.] Seto chuckled as well–a low throaty sound deep in his chest–then he curled up near the campfire in the form that he had the night before. After a while Seth walked over and sat down next to the dragon, laying against his side.

…

There the two brothers sat for hours until the first stars winked into visibility in the night sky. "Seto?" Seth asked after he'd thought of something. The dragon turned his head so that one of his eyes could look at his brother. "You told me that you met a white kitten with emerald eyes, and that _it_ was what comforted you and convinced you to return, right?"

Seto nodded, then asked telepathically, _"Why?"_

Seth shrugged. "Oh, no reason. I was just wondering." but in reality he was remembering a similar situation five-thousand years ago in Egypt.

–Flashback–

Fifteen-year-old Seth ran through the palace, already late for his magic lesson. He raced past the quarters of his soon-to-be fellow Guardians and as he passed Isis's room, she waved kindly to him. Seth had no time to return the gesture, so he simply smiled and nodded. When he finally reached the courtyard, his teacher Mahaad looked up and said simply, _**"You're late, Seth."**_

Still breathing heavily, Seth replied, _**"My apologies, master. I was completing a task for Pharaoh. I did not realize the time. Forgive my carelessness."**_

Mahaad nodded kindly, then resumed his lecture on one of the hardest spells that the Guardians would ever need to learn, the power of restoration. The spell would–if cast correctly–return a cursed item or being to its original state. However if cast wrongly, the effects could be disastrous. After he'd finished his lecture, Mahaad picked out ten long blades of grass, then transformed them into swords. He then handed one to each of his ten students and instructed them to attempt to restore them.

...

After many hours, only one student had not yet managed to cast the spell correctly. Every time that Seth would attempt the spell, there was always something that would go wrong. He was slightly envious of the young princess, who had gotten the spell right on only her seventh attempt. Almost everyone else had succeeded before their tenth, and Mahaad had told him it had taken him at least four attempts before he had met with success. Seth was breathing heavily and had accumulated multiple small wounds, scratches and burns from the spell literally exploding in his face.

_**"Clear your mind, Seth. Focus on nothing but the task at hand."**_ Mahaad reminded him gently. _**"Once more. If it doesn't work, we will practice more tomorrow."**_ He handed Seth yet another grass-blade-turned-sword and stepped back for Seth to try again.

Seth breathed deeply and cleared his mind as he had been told, then recited the complicated incantation word-for-word in his mind. Summoning his power, he concentrated on the weapon in front of him, trying to transform the blade of iron back into a blade of grass. He could feel the spell working, and he had almost succeeded when–

_BANG!_ The spell exploded like a fireball against a stone wall. Seth landed on his back ten feet away and the blackened sword clattered to the ground. Seth sighed in defeat and dusted himself off. Mahaad reassured him that success would come to him in time, and Seth bowed respectfully to his teacher and retired to his quarters for the evening. He had many scrolls to study before he could rest.

Reaching his chambers, he shuffled to his bed and collapsed onto the edge of it, placing his head in his hands. Just then a small white kitten with emerald eyes padded into the room. Seth looked up at the noise, then smiled down at the tiny creature. He'd seen her before. The kitten leapt lithely onto his bed next to him and proceeded to rub herself against his arms and side, mewing to be stroked.

Seth obliged and ran his hand gently over her down-like fur a few times. As he petted the small kitten, she purred gratefully, happy for the attention. After a few more minutes, the kitten climbed onto Seth's lap and curled up to sleep. Seth smiled gently at the little furball, then said softly, _**"Thank you, Hana. You always know when and how to best bring comfort to me."**_

The kitten looked up at him with her emerald orbs and winked slyly, then jumped off Seth's lap to the ground and loped to the door. Immediately after the kitten had disappeared around the corner, Hana's head came back into view five feet higher. _**"Anytime Seth."**_ Hana answered with a smile. Then she returned to her chambers. Seth smiled again, walked over to his desk, picked up the nearest scroll and unrolled it, and began to read.

–End Flashback–

_"Wow. You never told me that before,"_ Seto thought at his brother. _"I never knew that Hana was from Egypt back then!"_

"And you once told _me_ not to eavesdrop on people," Seth laughed. "Memories are supposed to be private."

_"So are phone conversations, but that didn't seem to stop _you_ from listening in."_ Seto retorted with a quiet, teasing growl.

"Touché." Seth laughed again. Then he sat up in with a gasp. "That's it!" he shouted, causing Seto to jump in surprise. "_That's_ how we'll restore you to normal! That spell that I could never perfect, the restoration spell!"

_"But it's been 5,000 years. Are you sure you still remember all of it?"_ Seto asked.

"Maybe we _should_ find someone who's had more practice with it." Seth allowed. "But how will we do that? You cannot be seen in public like this, and we have no way of contacting Mahaad or any of the other former Guardians. And Hana will be long gone by now." he added as Seto was about to say something. "We need to find someone who has been transformed into a dragon before, someone who we _know_ is an ally–"

Suddenly Seto shouted, _"Critias!" _

* * *

><p><span>End of chapter 4<span>

Next chapter teaser: Chance

Well, what did I tell you? I said he would be back! Just– not in the way you probably expected.

I've always wondered if TK (Thief King) Bakura and Kisara could be related. I mean, they both have white hair and blue eyes (sort of), and they never said in the show where Kisara was from–

Ryou finally finds out that he wasn't alone in his battle against Zorc. Will he learn to trust Akefia?

I couldn't resist putting the part with the kitten in. I just needed a bit of fluff in the story. And Seto needed to know that he was strong enough to not be dangerous, if that makes sense.

Sorry if I grossed you out with the 'deer' thing. He _is_ a dragon now, after all.

Well enjoy, and I'll see you next chapter!

Tsunami Storm


	5. Chance

Here's the next chapter! Seth decided to shred my outline, so I'm writing spur-of-the-moment again! Wish me luck! Read, Enjoy, and Review!

* * *

><p>The deep forest, a few days later–<p>

"Wait, wait, wait," Seth pleaded again. "I think I've got it this time." he held the blade tightly in his left hand as he drew arcane symbols in the air with his right.

_"That's what you said last time,"_ Seto grumbled. _"–and the eighteen times before that."_ he added, attempting to clean off his ash-blackened nose. _"It's been five-thousand years and that spell is _still_ blowing up in your face."_ he chuckled.

Sheepish, Seth smirked apologetically at his brother, then prepared to cast the restoration spell one last time. _Thoth, be with me. _he prayed._ Give me the wisdom to restore my brother._ He concentrated his power, gripped the sword tightly in his hand and recited the ancient incantation. He could feel the spell working and he slowly cracked open an eye, expecting another explosion. The blade of steel shimmered with a dim white light and slowly returned to its original form, that of an ordinary blade of grass.

Seth stared at the blade in disbelief for a moment, then recovered himself and mentally rejoiced at his success. _Finally!_ he shouted in his mind. _"What did you do differently, Seth?"_ Seto asked, curious.

"I asked Thoth to guide me in my attempt. He _is_ the god of wisdom and magic, after all. It was thanks to him that I was successful." Seth answered.

Seto nodded. _"Let's try it for real this time. If it blows up again, it's on your head."_

Seth laughed. "More like _in my face_, but I see your point." He slowly approached his dragon-brother, who lowered his head helpfully and allowed Seth to touch his snout to determine the amount of power necessary to fuel the spell. Seth took a deep breath of air in through his nose and exhaled through his mouth to clear his head once more in preparation for the task ahead. Looking up, he admitted, "Seto, I will need to use some of your power as well to fuel this spell. Unfortunately I am not as strong as I once was."

Seto nodded and willed a fraction of his energy to concentrate into the tip of his nose and flow to Seth's hand. Seth recoiled slightly when the power reached him, surprised at the amount of energy that his brother now possessed. Concentrating his own power and combining it with the energy he'd received from Seto, Seth drew the necessary symbols with his left hand this time and recited the incantation from memory, calling upon Thoth again as he did so.

As soon as he felt the magic start to accomplish its task, Seth removed his hand and took a few steps back. A white-blue light had surrounded the dragon before him and as Seth watched, it shrank in size. Slowly the dragon's tail vanished and his arms lengthened and increased in thickness. The dragon's wings receded halfway into its back and transformed into a flowing blue-white cape that extended to the middle of his calf. As the dragon completed its final transformation into a human, the diamond-hard scales coalesced into intricate armor instead. The light faded, and Seto Kaiba collapsed to his knees, exhausted.

As he stood up, he looked at his new appearance in awe. A white, winged helm now covered his head, and silvery vambraces and greaves protected his arms and legs. A snow-white tasset rested about his waist, and a shining breastplate with the White Dragon emblazoned on it shielded his heart. His joints were guarded by silvery-white plates, and when he drew his sword, it crackled with White Lightning, and a sapphire lay in the pommel and in the cross of the hilt.

Seth whistled in wonder as he appraised his brother's new look, nodding in approval. "I must say Seto," he remarked, "the form of a Dragon-Warrior suits you."

Nodding as well, Seto carefully removed his helmet and placed it under his left arm, walking over to his brother and offering his right hand. Seth took it and Seto threw away his helmet and pulled his brother into a hug. "Thank you. You did it. I'm back. _Thank you_." he whispered, emotion saturating every word and tears of joy running down his face.

Surprised, Seth returned the embrace, having never expected to see Seto Kaiba showing this much emotion. After a minute Seto stepped back and began to remove his new armor, placing each piece carefully on the ground as he took it off. He removed his cape last and carefully folded it and placed it on the top of the pile. Underneath he wore a simple black turtleneck and black pants. It was the same outfit that he had been wearing before his transformation minus his white trenchcoat. Briefly Seto wondered what had happened to it, but then shrugged. He had two others exactly like it at home. Seth handed him an extra pair of sandals, as his feet were bare when he'd removed his boots. Seto slipped them on, grateful that it was a warm summer night.

Off in the distance, Seto spotted a small campfire with what looked like five people seated around it. _Who would be camping this deep in the woods?_ Seto thought to himself. Out loud he asked, "Think we should check it out?" Seth nodded, and the two brothers walked through the forest to the source of the light.

Unbeknownst to them, a shadowy figure crept out from behind a large bush and whispered, "Excellent. This man will fit perfectly into my plans." he pulled his deck out of his pocket and looked at the top card with a sinister smirk. "Soon, my servant, we shall have our revenge on that lying monster."

* * *

><p>The deep woods, a few minutes later–<p>

"Hey Téa, pass me some a' da marshmallows, will ya?" Joey asked, grabbing two graham crackers and a chocolate bar out of the bags next to him. Téa smiled and threw the whole bag to him, which he caught out of the air and placed in front of him. "Tanks."

Yugi sighed contentedly. Camping out like this really brought back memories from the good old days. They'd had many fun adventures together, not all of them seeming fun at the time. He speared another hot dog on his poker and held it over the fire, listening in amusement to the story that Atem was describing.

"–And so from that day on, Mana made sure that her aim would be more accurate when casting spells." the former king finished. "I have to say, I don't think Seth was quite expecting to spend most of the day looking like a centaur."

Everyone in the group laughed as Atem finished his story. Tristan looked down at his own s'more and said, "Speaking of Seth, I hope he's okay. We haven't seen him for days."

Atem nodded. He too was concerned about his cousin. Suddenly they heard a rustling in the brush behind them. Téa screamed and Tristan and Joey jumped to their feet, ready to attack whatever came out of the dark forest. A few seconds passed and none other than Seto Kaiba emerged from the darkness, brushing leaves and broken twigs out of his hair.

"Oh it's you guys. I wondered who was so far out here." Seto said when he looked up. He walked closer into the firelight and sat down on the ground between Yugi and Tristan.

"_Kaiba_? Man are _you_ a sight fer sore eyes!" Joey laughed, relieved. "We thought sometin _terrible_ had happened ta ya! Ya should've seen Seth's face da last time we saw 'im. It was like you'd _died_ or sometin."

Seto grimaced briefly then changed the subject. "Well I'm here _now_, so there's nothing to worry about. If you're still anxious about Seth, don't be. He's fine."

Atem was still worried about his cousin. "Where is Seth, Kaiba?" he asked.

"Right here, my king." Seth stepped out from the shadows directly behind the former pharaoh and knelt down respectfully on one knee.

Atem rolled his eyes. "How many times do I have to tell you, Seth? I'm not a king anymore! So stop calling me that!" he laughed exasperatedly. Seth smirked and walked over to sit between his cousin and Yugi. "Sorry my phar– A-Atem. Old habits are not easily forgotten. I shall try to remember that next time."

"So what brings you guys out here? Just a random urge to go camping in the woods?" Seto asked while his brother and Atem continued their conversation.

"Yeah, you could say that." Yugi shrugged.

"Also it's Atem's first time dat he's ever had s'mores!" Joey laughed. "We didn't want him ta miss out on one o' da best tings about campin'!"

Yugi laughed. "That's not the only reason. We just felt like reminiscing about the old days. These woods remind me of Shadi's 'Capsule Monsters' adventure. Remember guys?" he asked, looking at Téa, Tristan and Joey.

"Yeah. That _was_ pretty fun, now that I think back on it," Tristan agreed. "but it didn't seem that way at the time!"

"Why? What happened?" Seto asked, intrigued. "Who is this 'Shadi' person? What 'Capsule Monsters' adventure?"

Téa smiled as she explained the story to her friend, as he hadn't been present in that particular escapade. "Basically it was a huge Shadow Game like the Capsule Monsters board game," she began. "Shadi was the previous Guardian of the Millennium Items before your prophecy came true and we got them." Seto scowled as he remembered the events leading up to that ancient prophecy, and Téa grinned apologetically for bringing it up. "Anyway," she continued, "Shadi had constructed this pyramid in India and Yugi's grandpa and a colleague of his had gotten trapped inside and we had to get them out somehow. We found ourselves transported into the game, and we had to clear five challenges to win the ultimate challenge and go home. We met Alexander the Great's good half down in the game, and Yugi– er, Atem– well _both_ of them actually, beat his dark half and stopped him from getting the power to rule the world."

"So basically it was just another maniac trying to take over the world, and you guys stopped him. Business as usual." Seto commented when she'd finished. "Wait, Alexander the Great?! You guys actually _met_ Alexander the Great? No way!"

Joey laughed at Kaiba's reaction and answered, "Dat's just how I reacted too! I couldn't believe it eider!"

Kaiba rolled his eyes and smiled, then commented, "That actually sounds like a cool adventure. Where did you say this pyramid was? India?"

Tristan spoke up then. "Ah– hate to burst your bubble Kaiba, but– that pyramid disappeared into the ground when Atem defeated the bad guy. And I don't think it's comin' back. Sorry."

Seto shrugged. "Oh well. It _sounded_ like a cool adventure. Hey, maybe I'll re-create that as a VR game." he chuckled. "It's _bound_ to be better than my other one." he laughed again, but this time humorlessly.

Yugi looked over at this point and argued, "Kaiba, that was a _great_ adventure. It's not _your_ fault the Big Five ruined it. I'd play it again if I could, and I'm sure that duelists all over the world would love it too." he encouraged.

Seto shrugged. "Maybe I'll give that game another chance. But not until _after_ I make sure that both Marik and my dark side are either back in the Shadow Realm permanently or destroyed. That's the _least_ they deserve after what they put me through–" he broke off, realizing too late what he'd said.

"What do you mean, 'what they put you through', Kaiba?" Yugi asked, catching the attention of Atem and Seth, causing them to look over out of curiosity. Seth stared wide-eyed at Kaiba, who shook his head and tried to shrug it off, saying, "Nothing. It doesn't matter. Forget I said anything."

Atem and his friends would not be dissuaded. "What happened, Kaiba?" Atem repeated almost threateningly.

Seto did not get a chance to answer. He suddenly cried out and collapsed to his knees, gripping his heart as immense pain shot through his body. He gasped in agony as the pain intensified, falling to his hands and knees and struggling to keep breathing normally. Yugi and the others surrounded him with horrified expressions, trying to do whatever they could to help. Suddenly they all heard a curious ripping sound. Kaiba's shirt was literally tearing itself apart as large, indescribable objects began to manifest themselves on Kaiba's back. Seto screamed in agony as the unknown objects grew in size, finally freeing themselves from the boy's back and dripping red blood onto the forest ground. "They're wings–" Tristan realized with a gasp.

The transformation did not end there, however. Seto continued to cry out in obvious suffering as his hands and feet transformed into the claws of a dragon and his body grew to multiple times its size. A huge tail began to grow from the base of his spine and his neck lengthened and grew in thickness as well, before becoming sheathed with white scales. Finally his head re-formed into that of a Blue-Eyes, and the White Dragon collapsed to the ground, unconscious after the tortuous transformation he'd endured for now a second time.

Yugi and the others stood around the seemingly motionless dragon, completely shocked and utterly speechless at what they had just witnessed. None of them could find the words to speak as they looked at Seth, who wore an expression of pain mixed with understanding.

Joey was the first one to recover. "What– just happened?" he breathed, still too shocked to make a joke. Seth answered, not able to look up. "I guess the curse was too powerful. The restoration spell I cast brought only a brief reprieve. Now Seto will remain in this form until I can find the _one man_ able to cure him permanently." Seth put a comforting hand on his brother-turned-dragon's shoulder and sighed. "I just do not know how to get there. I am not strong enough to create a portal large enough for both myself _and_ a Blue-Eyes White Dragon to pass through–" Then a realization dawned on him. "But I _was_ in the past–" Seth whispered to himself, a plan already manifesting itself in his mind.

By this time Seto had regained consciousness and was watching his brother as he re-packed his camping materials and stuffed them unceremoniously into his pack. He then tied the pack to Seto's back just behind the wing joints and climbed on between the wings and the base of the dragon's neck. He threw an apologetic look at his friends and cousin as Seto prepared to take off.

"I promise to explain everything upon our return. I _will_ find a way to lift this curse upon Seto, one way or another." _And if _this_ doesn't work, I don't know _what_ will._ he added to himself as Seto shot into the sky, angling his body so that they flew south and west to the place that had once been Seth's home, Egypt, the land of the Pharaohs.

* * *

><p>Meanwhile–<p>

"Oh stop your struggling, you useless dung beetle." Marik hissed. "I need to know where they are! So stop sniveling and start talking!" he struck his captive across the face once again, licking the blood off the back of his hand with a rapturous smile on his face.

"I–I–I told you, I don't know!" Weevil Underwood howled, struggling futilely against the barbed wire that suspended him from the ceiling. "I–I have rights, you know! I'm not some dumb animal! Now gimme back my glasses!"

A low chuckle sounded somewhere behind him, and the sound of crunching glass and plastic followed it. "Could've fooled me." a vaguely-familiar voice drawled. "Oops, were these yours? Sorry, I guess I don't know my own strength." the stranger laughed evilly as he dropped the glasses on the floor, now broken beyond repair.

Marik spared a grin for his partner, who returned the expression. Then the grin flipped into a snarl. "I'm going to say this One. Last. Time." he threatened. "I _know_ you saw what looked like a Blue-Eyes White Dragon fly over the city. I need to know which way it went!" _Smack._ He struck his helpless captive again as his accomplice–Dark Seto–lit a blowtorch to apply to the boy's feet should he continue to be uncooperative.

"All right! All right!" Weevil screeched. "I'll tell you! I couldn't really see much, it was after midnight. But the thing flew north, toward the forest! There! I told you. Now let me go!"

"'Oh, you poor misguided fly,' said the spider. 'Whoever said that I would let you go?'" Marik laughed, nodding to his companion. "Like I've said before, I never turn down good flesh. And what better way to eliminate a bug– than with a bug-zapper?" he cackled. He was holding one end of a jumper cable next to a huge generator, while Dark Seto connected the other end to one of the coils of barbed wire around the former Regional-Champion's waist. Metal contacted metal, and the two dark sides left the building howling with laughter as Weevil's screams echoed through the night.

* * *

><p><span>End of chapter 5<span>

Next chapter teaser: Clueless

*Shudder* Okay, _never_ ask me to write something like that again! I didn't know I was even _capable_ of writing something so creepy!

I hope my descriptions of the armor was accurate. My spell-checker didn't even recognize the word 'tasset', which is the piece of armor that protects the lower body. I got those names from my younger brother, who got it from Monster Hunter, a PSP game. (Thank you, PlayStation!) If you're still having trouble visualizing it, just look up 'Armor of the Dragon Prince' by Elementianhero22 on Deviantart. I drew the whole thing for you, front and back! I'm particularly proud of the hilt of the sword and the cape. ;)

Who is this mysterious stalker? And what is he planning?

Did you really think Seth could permanently cure him in so short a time? I had to make the story longer and more suspenseful than _that_! As for Seto's transformation back into a dragon, I imagine that huge dragon wings slowly ripping themselves out of your back would be quite painful, don't you? *winces slightly as the scene comes to mind, then shudders again* Oh, and I came up with that scene all by myself before I'd ever _heard_ of DNAngel. Apparently much the same thing happens there to one of the characters. (Only those are angel wings, not dragon wings.)

Hope you all enjoyed, and I'll see you next chapter!

Tsunami Storm


	6. Clueless

Well, here's the next chapter for ya! Hope you like it! Sorry I haven't updated in a long time, I've had a bad case of Writer's Block on both my stories. Ah well. Read, Enjoy, and Review!

* * *

><p>Downtown Domino City, the next day–<p>

Today was the day that Akefia would be released from the hospital. All of his extensive wounds had healed, and the deepest ones were developing scars that would heal in time. Ryou had taken responsibility for him, and would allow him to live with him at his house until he had 'proven himself worthy', as Ryou put it. So far, Akefia had given his new friends no reason to think that he would act like he did in ancient Egypt, and it was actually kinda fun to watch the more skeptical people gradually grow to trust him.

Akefia was sitting up in bed when his visitors walked into the room. Ryou, Atem, Mana, Mahaad and Yugi came in the door, and all but one of them stayed at the back of the room, not sure if they wanted to approach the young man who had almost destroyed Egypt. Ryou walked right up to his twin's bedside and sat down in the nearby chair. _Don't try anything,_ the boy seemed to warn with his eyes. Akefia nodded, then turned to the other four individuals at the back of the room.

"Pharaoh. It's good to see you again. How have you been?" Akefia questioned with an innocent and guilt-ridden smile.

"My time in this world has been pleasant so far, just as it was last time." Atem answered in a clipped tone. He still didn't trust the boy formerly known as the Thief King, and it would be a long time before he would.

"I see. That's good to hear. And you, master Mahaad, and you, Mana? How about you guys?" he continued.

Mahaad could see the immense guilt behind the white-haired boy's sincere eyes, and could sense that the boy was trying extremely hard to gain their forgiveness for his past actions. Mana could sense it too, and she suddenly felt a wave of pity for the misguided boy that had taken her master so long ago. She replied, "It has been really fun in this time so far. I have made so many new friends, and my old friends are always nearby."

Mahaad nodded, agreeing with his apprentice's statement and indicating that it applied to him as well. He grudgingly realized that it was Zorc's doing that had made his sacrifice necessary, but this realization didn't mean that he was ready to forgive this supposedly 'changed' youth. Not yet, anyway.

Most surprisingly, _Yugi_ kept his distance as well, despite his normally forgiving nature. He was not sure what to think about this white-haired young man. On the one hand, he had almost destroyed the world with the help of Zorc, but on the other, he had protected Ryou as much as he could from his deranged yami that had lived in the Millennium Ring for thousands of years. Yugi was torn.

Mahaad whispered his realization to Atem and Yugi, leaving it to his former king to decide whether to forgive the young man or to judge him for his past actions. Atem sighed, carefully choosing his words before he said anything. "I will not condone my father's brother's actions. Forging the Millennium Items using innocent souls was a _terrible_ crime. Your reaction to this is understandable," Atem admitted, "but that does not mean that it wasn't wrong. Because of you, the Lord of Darkness was allowed to destroy my kingdom, and might have destroyed the entire world had I and Horahkty not intervened and put a stop to his rampage. Normally the punishment for such a crime would be most severe." Atem stated.

Akefia stiffened in apprehension, but then nodded. It was no more than he deserved. Ryou and the others watched the former pharaoh with carefully calm expressions, waiting for his decision.

"However," Atem continued, "there are your _recent_ actions to consider as well. You have existed for as long as _I_ have, trapped in a Millennium Item. However your existence was far worse than mine. While I was sealed within the Puzzle _alone_, you were forced to constantly battle with Zorc himself for five long millennia. When the Ring passed to Ryou–as a gift from his father, I believe?" he looked at Ryou briefly in question, and the boy nodded. "When the Ring came to Ryou, instead of joining with The Dark One and aiding in his torment, you instead _continued_ to fight him, allowing Ryou freedom for as long as possible."

Akefia nodded slowly, surprised that Atem knew all of this. Maybe Ryou told him about it or something, or perhaps young Mokuba had relayed the information. He continued to watch the young former ruler as he came to a decision.

"It is because of you, in part, that Ryou is with us today. You saved his life, Thief King." Akefia winced at his old nickname, but then continued to listen quietly. "Therefore, having weighed your crimes against your good deeds, I have come to a decision." Atem paused, secretly enjoying the moment of suspense. "You will be given a trial period of one year. During this time Ryou will observe you, as will we all. If you can manage to behave yourself during this trial period and prove your claim to have changed, you will receive a full pardon."

All who were present in the room raised their eyebrows in surprise, not expecting Atem to show mercy. Then Yugi smiled. His friend had sure come a long way from that spirit that challenged people left and right to Shadow Games when he'd first solved the Millennium Puzzle [Season 0]. Of course, his actions had been completely justified, but Yugi would still wince when he remembered some of the punishment games that the evildoers had to endure. And were _still_ enduring, in some cases.

"However," Atem spoke up again, "if you should falter in this trial period–give us any reason to think that you are deceiving us–know that I will not hesitate to send you back to the Shadow Realm with your master, this time permanently." Atem threatened.

Akefia nodded fervently, internally rejoicing that Atem had chosen to show him mercy after everything he'd done. He slowly rose from his bed–kindly waving Ryou away when he offered to help–and knelt down before his former liege.

"You have my word, my pharaoh. I will never give you any reason to think that I have returned to my former wickedness. You are truly the wise son of King Akunumkanon. Mercy is more than I deserve. Thank you for giving me another chance."

Atem raised an eyebrow at Akefia's choice of words, then smiled at the seemingly sincere boy for the first time.

* * *

><p>Kaiba Corporation, a few hours later–<p>

Mokuba sat at the large console, fixing an aspect of his brother's game that the Big Five had corrupted. He had been working on this project in secret ever since Seto returned from the Dominion of the Beasts a few months ago.

"Just one. More. Adjustment– There! It's finished!" Mokuba congratulated himself on repairing the RPG all by himself. "Okay Roland. It's time to test it."

The bodyguard touched a handkerchief to his brow and answered, "Are you sure that this is wise, master Mokuba? I mean, you know what happened to Mr. Kaiba the last time this game was tested."

Mokuba grimaced. "Yeah, I know. But I fixed it. Seto will be so proud of me when he comes home!" Mokuba grinned. He carefully climbed into the VR pod and put his deck in the appropriate slot. Then the screen closed and the boy nodded to his favorite bodyguard. Roland nodded back nervously, then pulled the switch that would upload his young master's mind to the game. "Be careful, sir." He muttered as the transfer took place.

…

Hours later Mokuba climbed out of the pod, having successfully defeated the Mythic/Five God Dragon with a fusion of his most powerful monsters and staying for the little 'after-party' that he had added to the game as a surprise for his brother when he tested it. He wrote a quick note to his brother detailing that he'd completely fixed and tested the game, then affixed it to the console with a piece of tape. Seto would find it when he came home. _If he comes home,_ Mokuba thought sadly.

…

The next day, Mokuba invited his friends over to test the game for themselves. Joey agreed to enter the game again, and Yugi, Téa and Atem came along too. Mokuba used the pod in the Kaibacorp. labs, and the other four used the pods in the Kaiba Land amusement park. When everyone had stepped out of their pods, Mokuba walked into the room and asked, "So guys, what did you think? I'm pretty sure that this was how my brother originally designed it in the first place, before those jerks ruined it."

"Dat was really cool, Mokuba." Joey complimented with a grin. "Kaiba's sure got one heck of an imagination! I'll have ta remember ta tell 'im dat when I see 'im next."

Atem and Yugi also nodded, agreeing that this adventure had been far better than their previous experience. Téa also agreed, saying that she would definitely want to play the adventure again at some point in the future, and encouraged that many people–not just duelists–would enjoy the game as well. Mokuba beamed at the praise, and thanked his friends for helping to give the game its final test.

"Oh! I can't believe I almos' forgot!" Joey spoke up suddenly as they were about to leave. "Mokuba, we ran inta your brothers a few days ago, Seth and Kaiba."

"What?! Really?" Mokuba cried, hardly daring to believe his ears. "Are they okay? Why haven't they come home yet? What happened at that warehouse?"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! One at a time, kid!" Joey laughed. "Seth is fine, far as I know. I mean, he was a coupla nights ago. Kaiba– eh, well–" Joey trailed off, not knowing how to explain the situation to the boy.

"What? What's happened to Seto?" Mokuba pressed, fearing the worst had happened to his brother.

"He's– cursed, Mokuba." Yugi put in, speaking for Joey who still couldn't find the words. "I don't know all the details, but I guess that Kaiba's dark side intended to kill him by firing a ball of Dark Energy at him. But instead of– you know, the intended effect, Kaiba was turned into a Blue-Eyes White Dragon. That's why he can't come home yet. They're trying to find some way to– change him back to normal." Yugi finished sadly.

"Seth tried the ancient Restoration spell, but it only worked for a short time. It lasted for only a few hours, then Seto transformed back into a dragon." Atem added, also bearing a sorrowful expression. "Now Seth and Seto are flying to Egypt. I don't know _why_, though. Seth didn't explain his reasons. But I _do_ know that whatever they are doing is with the intent of restoring your brother."

"Whoa. I– I can't believe it." Mokuba breathed after a minute. "Seto is– a _dragon_? That's just– too weird. I hope that whatever Seth wants to try works. I really miss my brother. _Both_ of them."

Atem nodded. "I know how you feel, Mokuba. I miss them too. As you know, Seth was–and is still–my cousin. I know what it's like to miss a family member. I know that your brothers will return home soon. Just have faith." he put a comforting hand on the teen's shoulder and gave him a small smile of encouragement.

Mokuba returned the smile and answered, "You're right, Atem. They'll come home when they're ready."

* * *

><p>Somewhere over the Sahara–<p>

_"Where exactly are we going again, Seth?"_ Seto asked as he flew over the landmark-less desert. He'd been flying for twenty-four hours straight, and although he was not tired yet in the least, he generally liked to know their destination before any traveling began.

Seth laughed. "Did you not pay attention? I told you shortly after we left. We are going to the temple of the White Dragon, a secret temple that I built to honor the woman that saved my life many times, the woman I loved, Kisara."

_He built a lost temple to Blue-Eyes? Wow. Kisara must've made _quite_ a first impression._ Seto thought to himself.

"Heh. That she did." Seth laughed. "Bank right," he suddenly ordered, and Seto tilted his wings so that they turned in the correct direction. After about another hour, Seto saw a magnificent marble temple in the distance. "There it is. We're here." Seth called, and Seto carefully landed in the polished courtyard. If he were human, Seto would have whistled. _"Boy, Seth. You sure have _some_ imagination."_ Seto commented telepathically to his brother as he studied the closest statue.

Seth smiled. "I am glad you like it. I only wish that– Kisara could have seen it. I wish that she had survived." he shook his head. "Oh well. She is with me _now_, so I should not complain."

Suddenly Seto spotted the statue of the White Dragon on the roof of the temple. He gaped at the statue and flew up beside it to get a closer look. _"Wow. Seth, how in the world did your craftsmen make something this big? It's twice my size!"_

"With much time and effort, my brother." Seth chuckled. "I found as much silver as I could as well as the two largest pieces of lapis lazuli in the royal treasury, and carved this statue over a period of two years. It was my greatest achievement, in the arts anyway." Seth smiled up at the larger-than-life dragon appreciatively.

_"W-wait a minute."_ Seto stammered in shock, _"_You_ made this?! Are you telling me that you constructed this entire temple by _yourself_?!"_ Seto perched on the roof and stared incredulously at his brother.

Seth laughed. "No, I only carved and molded the sculptures and wound the pillars with silver bands. I had a team of craftsmen do the rest. I _did_ however make the sarcophagus by myself. It is made of the purest lapis lazuli I could find. You'll find it inside." he added to the dragon's confused expression. Seto nodded in comprehension, then flew into the temple to see the tomb for himself. Seth followed him in, nodding in approval as he surveyed his craftsmen's work. After five-thousand years, the temple still looked as pristine as the day it was finished.

Seto heard the approaching footsteps long before Seth did, and he wheeled around and released a threatening growl at the intruder. The figure paused for a moment, then continued to approach the brothers as if nothing had happened. When the individual walked into the firelight, Seth called, "Wait Seto! Do not attack! It's Hana." Seto blinked in surprise, then allowed his White Lightning to fade from his open jaws.

"Hey Seth. Hey Kaiba. Long time no see." Hana stated in greeting. Seth nodded and smiled at his friend before embracing her, and Seto just nodded. "I hope you don't mind Seth, but we had to excavate this entire temple. It was completely buried beneath the sand. In fact, I only found it because I tripped over that statue's head on the roof. I didn't know if you wanted it to stay hidden or not."

Seth blinked in surprise and answered, "Well I would have liked to allow the world to see the splendor of the White Dragon, but I guess my namesake had other plans." he shrugged. "However, if it had not been preserved by the sands, it most certainly would have been destroyed by the hand of Time."

Hana nodded, and then turned to Seto and asked, "So why'd you guys come here anyway? Was there a particular reason?"

Seth nodded. "Remember how Mahaad had sealed away some of his power in the spellcaster training grounds? When he unlocked it he became more than twice as powerful. I– I copied that idea, and sealed here all the energy I could spare every day for as long as I reigned in Egypt. Needless to say, quite a bit of my power is stored here, in the form of the dragon to whom I owe my life."

Having explained that, Seth walked out of the temple back into the bright noonday sun. Seto offered to help him onto the roof, but Seth turned it down. "I designed this place as a test. If anyone wished to gain the power that rested here, they would need to do it by themselves and pass the 'test of the Dragon's Eye'. I must do this alone, but I appreciate the offer, brother." Seth smiled. He then grasped the nearest silver band and started to climb the titanic structure.

Seto and Hana watched in increasing amazement as Seth demonstrated almost inhuman flexibility and grace as he ascended the outside of the temple. When he reached the top, he wiped a few beads of sweat from his brow, then knelt down on one knee and looked up at the gigantic statue's left eye. Hana's jaw dropped when she saw the dragon's head turn towards her old friend and bend down toward him. Seth smiled and rose to his feet, then reached out with his left hand and touched the dragon's nose.

This test was designed to yield only when the person attempting to attain the power showed their respect as well as demonstrated a magical ability. A thief or evildoer would never consider showing respect, and so would be denied the power they desired.

Suddenly transparent azure flames erupted around the former pharaoh and his eyes glowed with a bright blue aura. Hana had to turn away so that she would not hurt her eyes from the intense power that was engulfing Seth. As quickly as the power surge erupted however, it dissipated just as quickly. Seth took a deep breath, then jumped from the top of the roof to the marble courtyard, landing gently on the polished stone. Hana ran over to him and yelled, "Are you crazy or something? Jumping from that height could've killed you!"

Seth grinned in apology and answered, "I guess I'm just like my cousin. Remember when Atem did the same thing, Seto? That was when you two summoned the 'Master of Dragon Knight'."

Seto nodded, smirking. He remembered when the king had jumped off the highest balcony of the palace with the Millennium Scales. Then he chuckled. At the time he'd thought that Atem had lost his mind. Still smirking, Seto shook his head at his brother's recklessness. Turning to Hana, Seto asked with his mind, _"So what brings _you_ here, Dr. Itonami? Just thought you'd drop in to say 'hi'?"_

Hana laughed. "I didn't think you'd remember that, Kaiba. It's been what, a month since you last saw me in my uniform?" She shook her head. "Anyway, yes. I _did_ have a reason for coming here. I came to tell you two that Mokuba misses you terribly. He knows why you had to leave, and he says he knows a secret, secluded place where you can hide. He also says it's near the mansion so you can see each other. It's not just him either." Hana continued. "Noah and Kisara are really worried too. All of your friends are. They're asking–no–_begging_ you to come home." Hana finished sadly, looking up at the dragon beside her.

Seth could see the immense pain in his brother's eyes and said, "I think we _should_ return to Domino, Seto. I miss our friends and family as well. Besides, opening a portal large enough for the both of us will take a considerable amount of time, and I need Mahaad's help to create it. I _know_ it's risky," he added to the look in Seto's eye, "but as the saying goes, 'Nothing ventured, nothing gained'."

Hana smiled again, then created a shadow-portal right next to her and put one leg through. "Go on ahead, you guys. I'll meet you back home in Domino." Then she disappeared.

Seto nodded wordlessly, then lowered himself to the ground so that his remaining companion could get on his back. Then he took off, winging toward home. _"I'm coming, Mokuba."_

* * *

><p>Meanwhile–<p>

"Curse it! Curse it all to HELL!" Marik shouted as he walked through a dark wet alleyway, kicking an unfortunate black cat that crossed his path. This had not been part of his master plan. He should've known that Kaiba's other half would screw something up. This proved it. You can't trust anyone else to do anything right. Dark Seto followed a few steps behind him, scowling in annoyance. How was he supposed to have known that his weak half would survive that attack? He had meant for that attack to kill Seto Kaiba and destroy his soul, not transform him into an overgrown winged lizard!

"Hmph. It seems I misjudged you, minion." Marik growled, causing his ally's scowl to deepen. "I was under the impression that destroying your good side would be so easy an _infant_ could do it." His comment went unanswered, and he continued, "Well I guess that I need to provide a little _more_ help to rectify the situation–" he trailed off, kicking open the door to an abandoned Kaibacorp. laboratory from when it manufactured war machines. Inside the nearly empty lab stood a solitary console and pod. Marik walked over to the outdated terminal and slammed his fist down on a rusted metal button.

The screen of the pod cracked and shattered when it tried to open, and an arm covered in a tattered red sleeve emerged from the darkness. "Welcome back, master of Exodia Necross." Marik grinned, licking his split lip fondly where a shard of glass had cut it.

"Where is that cursed brat?" the man demanded. "I'll kill him! I'll kill them all! My sons will rue the day they betrayed their father! NOAH! SETO! MOKUBA! You will all pay!"

* * *

><p><span>End of chapter 6<span>

Next chapter teaser: Critias

–And the baddies just keep on comin', don't they?

Almost done with this story. *sigh* I just need to think of a climactic battle scene for an upcoming chapter.

Aww. Akefia gets another chance. That's nice, right?

Remember how I mentioned a few chapters ago that Set was the god of the desert? That's who I was referring to as Seth's namesake.

See you all next chapter!

Tsunami Storm


	7. Critias

Well here's the next installment! I know. 'Finally!' Right? Sorry about that. I've been busy with school and stuff. All right. Enough lame excuses. ON with the chapter! Read, Enjoy, and Review!

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><p>The Kaiba Mansion, the next day, late in the morning–<p>

Mokuba sighed dejectedly. He vaguely wondered if Dr. Itonami had found his brothers yet. Then he shrugged. Probably not. _After all,_ he thought, _Seto and Seth have been gone for weeks. No one knows where they went. They could be anywhere by now._ Staring out the window, Mokuba spotted something that intrigued him. Walking downstairs to the front door, Mokuba went outside to find Mahaad and a girl in strange attire that he'd never seen before casting spells at one another. The woman had a protective helmet on her head, so Mokuba was unable to see her face. At first Mokuba thought that the two were enemies, but a second glance told him otherwise. Both spellcasters were grinning, and Mokuba realized that Mahaad was testing the strangely-familiar individual's strength.

After a few more magical projectiles had been fired and dodged, Mahaad relaxed his defensive position and straightened up. He quickly nodded once to his opponent, who returned the gesture wordlessly and drew her blade from its sheath and a shield from her back. Mokuba recognized the guarding device as the 'Millennium Shield' card, though it looked a bit different. It was slightly smaller for one thing, and it was made out of pure gold instead of part of it being red. The young woman's blade looked just like an ordinary double-edged training sword. Mahaad nodded in approval and summoned a blade and shield of his own, though his shield was made of steel.

"You are using your version of a Millennium Item? Very well my princess. I see that you finally wish to complete your training. So be it. Now," he challenged, still smiling, "come at me!"

Mokuba's mouth fell open as the young woman engaged the magician in a battle of swords. _She's a princess?!_ Mokuba thought in disbelief as he watched the skirmish with renewed interest. The two combatants seemed to notice that they had an audience and slightly adjusted the style of their battle. The girl started to execute some of her more 'flashy' maneuvers, and her master adjusted his style accordingly.

After a complex and entertaining battle of skill, the warrior and the magician sheathed their swords and the girl summoned a bow and quiver of arrows. The young woman created a target out of thin air and placed it a fair distance away as she drew an arrow and nocked it. Mahaad transported himself beside the target to judge his student's accuracy and strength. The mysterious princess smiled confidently and drew back the bowstring, releasing it with a loud _twang_.

Two more arrows quickly followed the first and all buried their heads in the target, yet only one pierced the red bull's-eye. For good measure, the girl smirked mischievously and pulled a throwing knife out of her boot and flung it at the target. The knife completely shattered the shaft of the last arrow and drove the head even deeper into the wooden target.

Mahaad returned to where the girl stood, raising an eyebrow at her hidden weapon. The princess laughed and shrugged her shoulders, conveying an unspoken apology to her master. Mahaad smiled and shook his head. "You never change, Hana."

Dr. Itonami beamed and removed her helmet, holding it under her arm as she turned back toward her audience. Mokuba's jaw dropped open once again as his newest friend was revealed. As she and her master were walking back to the mansion, Mahaad stated, "By the way, you passed. Congratulations my princess. You've completed my training."

Hana grinned at her master and best friend, "Yeah, finally. It only took me five-thousand years." she laughed. Mahaad rolled his eyes and shook his head at the now-overused pun, then walked over to where Yugi, Noah and Joey were talking.

Mokuba closed his still-open mouth when Hana walked up to where he was and sat down on the grass beside him. Mokuba stared at the green in front of him for a minute before asking, "I thought there were only seven Millennium Items. How come _you've_ got one?"

Hana smiled at her young friend and replied, "This?" She pulled her shield off her back and set it in her lap. "I made it myself. It's not _nearly_ as strong as the originals, and it's a little different when it comes to the energy source. The other Items get their power from the Shadows. Mine draws on my own life-force. I made it long ago as a kind of metalworking assignment for master Mahaad. I don't use it that often, but it comes in handy now and then."

"Oh. I see. That's interesting." Mokuba said, nodding in comprehension. "Oh! I almost forgot! Did you find my brothers? Where are they? And how did you get home so fast?"

Hana smiled again. "I _did_ find them. Both of your brothers are fine, physically at least. Seto's still a little– reserved. He doesn't want to hurt anyone with his new-found power. He's not accustomed to having so much energy in his body. Word to the wise, don't make him mad." she laughed, trying to cheer up the downcast teen. It worked, to an extent; Mokuba chuckled, but it didn't reach his eyes. They were still clouded with worry. "Anyway," Hana continued, "They should come home soon. The last place I saw them was at the Temple of the White Dragon. I gave them your message, and everyone here knows what's happened so far. As for how I got here so fast, I shadow-walked." Yugi, Joey, Tristan and Téa had come over to visit their young friend, to try to ease the boy's discomfort at the continuing absence of his brothers.

Mokuba nodded sadly. He knew that his brothers would return someday, but he wished that it would be soon. As if in answer to his wish, suddenly the group heard a deafening roar of greeting and looked up into the sky. Mokuba gaped in disbelief as a Blue-Eyes White Dragon descended from the clouds. Astride the magnificent beast was a beaming Seth, who appeared to be surrounded by transparent azure flames. The dragon landed behind the mansion so that they wouldn't be seen by any curious passersby.

The group ran to the back of the mansion to greet their returning friends, and Seth had just dismounted as they rounded the corner. Seto was just stretching his wings after the long flight from Egypt. Suddenly the two brothers heard a small gasp filled with emotion. They could sense the joy and love behind the breath, but there was also shock and horror deep within it as well. Seto looked up just as Mokuba crashed into his armored underside and embraced as much of the dragon as he could in a big hug. Seto smiled inwardly at his little brother's antics, then gave a quiet roar of welcome and happiness. Mokuba laughed at the sound, then whispered, tears running down his face, "Welcome home, Seto. I've missed you so much!"

The dragon exhaled slowly and thought back, _"I've missed you too, little brother."_

"Whoa! What was _that_?!" Mokuba exclaimed. "I just heard Seto's voice in my _mind_!" He stepped back from the dragon, and Seto winked a big sapphire eye at him. Seth laughed. "Do not be alarmed, young one. That is simply how he communicates now. We wouldn't understand his normal means of speech." Seto rumbled a laugh from deep in his chest, as if to confirm what his double was referring to. Mokuba laughed again at the sound, then nodded in agreement to what Seth had just told him.

By this time the others had joined the small family reunion, and Joey muttered to himself, "Man. I fergot how _huge_ Kaiba was as a dragon!" Seto snickered quietly at this, but otherwise gave no indication that he had heard his friend's comment.

Seth looked up at his former teacher and requested, "Mahaad? I– I need your help with something. I need to create a portal to the Dominion of the Beasts, one that is large enough for both me and Seto as a Blue-Eyes White Dragon to pass through. Could you– would you–" Seth trailed off, not knowing how to phrase the crucial question.

Mahaad smiled at his former student, then regarded the White Dragon with his blue-violet eyes before answering, "Of course my friend. I made a vow to always protect and aid the pharaoh. Since you were successor to Atem, that vow includes you as well, Seth. Also I feel that I bear a debt to you that must be repaid, Seto." He smiled up at the dragon, who had raised a scaly eyebrow in confusion. "It was–in part–thanks to _you_ that we were allowed to return to this world. The _least_ I can do in gratitude is aid you when you require it."

Seto smiled a dragon's smile and nodded, mentally thanking the spellcaster for his help. Mahaad returned the gesture with a solemn smile and continued, "However, this task may require more power and effort than you think, Seth." he added. "I am assuming that a feat of this scale and magnitude would require the power of at least– twenty mages. Even _with_ your new-found power, my friend." he added as the former king was about to answer.

"Twenty?!" Yugi cried in dismay. "But we only have fourteen, counting the past and present Millennium Guardians! Even if Mana, Shimon, Kisara, and– Atem's father– I forgot his name–" Yugi trailed off in embarrassment, trying to remember the long name of the former pharaoh.

"Akunumkanon." Seth supplied helpfully with a small smile.

"Right. Him." Yugi blushed. "Anyway, even if those four extra people help out, we're still two mages short!" he finished sadly. At this rate Kaiba would never be able to return to normal.

"I'll help." called a familiar voice. A smiling Hana Itonami walked over and confirmed, "Kaiba's been stuck as a dragon for too long. I think it's high time things returned to normal around here."

"Whatever _that_ means anymore." Tristan joked, causing all who heard the comment to snicker. Things certainly had been weird the past five years.

_"I don't know if it'll count, but I could lend a hand– er– _claw_ too."_ Seto offered shyly after a minute of silence. _"I may not look like it, but I've got a _huge_ amount of power in this form."_ Seth nodded in agreement, remembering the discovery when he had attempted the Restoration Spell.

"Hm." Seth mused, cupping his chin. "This just might work. We will need the help of _all_ the Guardians, though. Including–" he grimaced. "–my father."

_Wow. _That's_ gonna be awkward,_ Mokuba commented mentally with a dubious expression on his young face. When Seth had first been returned to this world, he hadn't even _looked_ at Akunadin. In fact he had completely ignored the previous Guardian of the Millennium Eye on purpose. Mokuba guessed that this was one of the reasons that Akunadin had decided to live somewhere in town and that they hadn't seen him since the mock 'Duel Monsters tournament' two months ago. Apparently Seth had still not forgiven him for what had happened to Kisara.

"Seth," chided a small, quiet voice. Everyone turned and saw Kisara walk up from the house to the group. "you _know_ that it was Zorc's fault that I met with that fate so long ago. It was not your father's. It's like Hana said. Everyone deserves another chance. 'To err is human. To forgive divine.'" she quoted, walking up to Seth and kissing him lightly on the cheek.

Seth sighed. "Your kindness never ceases to amaze me, Kisara." he breathed in reply, returning a soft kiss to the young woman's forehead.

"I'll go around town and ask everybody if they'll help out," Mokuba volunteered. "Anyone wanna come with me?"

"I'll go! I wanna see the rest of Domino City again!" Mana piped up excitedly, dashing over to where the raven-haired teen stood. At a concerned glance from Seto, Mokuba replied, "Don't worry, bro. We'll be careful!" before he disappeared from sight.

"I will keep him safe, you have the word of the Dark Magician Girl!" Mana added before darting around the corner after her youngest friend.

"They will be fine Seto," Mahaad reassured the still-worried dragon. "Mana is both strong and responsible. She will make sure that nothing happens to young Mokuba."

Seto nodded, outwardly seeming calm, but worry still tore at his heart. _"Please keep those two safe,"_ he prayed.

…

Hours later Mokuba and Mana returned, leading nine more people to the small assembly. When Shada noticed the White Dragon standing behind Seth, he froze momentarily in shock. Recovering quickly, he realized that this was what the young one meant by the 'curse' that had been placed on his elder brother. Akunadin also reacted in surprise, but his reaction was only to raise his eyebrows slightly. When he spotted his son, he stopped at the edge of the gathering and quickly averted his eyes. Seth looked down too, not knowing what to say. Hana looked at her friend for a minute and–seeing the confused emotions in his eyes–decided to speak for him until he could take over.

"My fellow Guardians and family members, I am glad that you have all agreed to help us in this crisis. The problem is simple: We need to create a portal to another dimension. The good news is the dimension is one that you are all familiar with: the Dominion of the Beasts. The bad news is the portal needs to be large enough for both Seth and Seto–as a Blue-Eyes White Dragon–to pass through safely."

Some of the group members gasped at this revelation, and others whispered amongst themselves. "Is such a feat even possible?" Akunadin asked quietly in disbelief.

At that moment Seth stepped up and answered, "It is. But only if we all work together. We will all need to use our power to the best of our ability. Seto was–in part–responsible for our 'second chance'. On top of that, many of you consider him to be a close friend. As for myself, I consider him to be a younger brother. He, Noah and Mokuba are now just as much a part of my family– as my father is."

At this Akunadin looked up at his son in shock, and saw not only forgiveness in Seth's eyes, but for the first time in years, he also saw love and acceptance. Hana looked at Seth too when he said this, and she could see that the statement had taken a great deal of effort and willpower to accept, especially in so short a time. With a solemn smile, Seth continued, "In order to restore my brother and break this curse that was placed upon him, Seto and I must travel to the realm of the Shadow Creatures and seek out the one man who can help us: a knight known as Critias, one of the three Legendary Knights of Atlantis."

Several members of the group gasped at the mention of the knights, most of them among the present Item bearers. Atem was one of the past individuals that had known of the ancient swordsman. The rest of the group nodded and either concentrated their power or held up their respective items. A large golden orb of energy began to form in the center of the circle of 'mages', and continued to grow until its diameter was about 30 feet [≈ 9.14 m]. The orb of energy then flattened itself out on the grass, growing to twice its size as it did, and became a swirling black vortex like the 'Dark Hole' spell card.

_That doesn't look like the other portal between dimensions that we used before._ Mokuba thought. _It's probably because it needs to be bigger than that one was. It requires more energy, and I guess the color depends on the person(s) casting it. Last time it was dark blue, purple and a bright yellow-green. This time all the powers are combined, so it's black and white._ Out loud he said, "Good luck Seto. Good luck Seth. Come home safely." _And soon._ he added mentally.

_"Don't worry kiddo. We'll be home before you know it."_ Seto reassured the teen with a sly wink, confirming that he'd heard the boy's unspoken comment as well. Then Seth climbed onto Seto's back just above his wing joints, and Seto rose a few hundred feet into the sky before diving headfirst into the swirling portal.

* * *

><p>?<p>

"Curses!" The man spat. "I cannot see them anymore! They must have traveled to a realm beyond my reach, another dimension." He paced back and forth in front of the crystal ball. Surprisingly this one actually worked. He'd received it from one of his former associates as a gift. He discovered that if he used the power of a certain card in his deck [the Dark Magician], the orb would show him the location of any Duel Monster in the world. Right now and for the past few weeks, the man had been tracking the legendary Blue-Eyes White Dragon, as he believed that this almighty creature could aid in his revenge on his former boss.

"Ah well. No matter. They will need to return at some point. And when they do, it's payback time!"

* * *

><p>Back at the Kaiba Mansion–<p>

Akefia felt distinctly uncomfortable at this place. Not only was he in an unfamiliar area of town, but just around the corner of this absurdly-large dwelling stood a group of eighteen immensely-powerful guardians, not all of whom completely trusted him yet. He thought, _Well I know at least two people who would willingly vouch for me. Ryou and young Mokuba. Ryou _knows_ that I have no connection to Zorc anymore, and I've never given Mokuba any reason to doubt me– not that he remembers, anyway._ Bakura added, wincing at the hazy memory. He couldn't remember much of it himself, only that Zorc had knocked Mokuba unconscious to bait Kaiba into playing a Shadow Game. He'd needed the power of Blue-Eyes for some reason.

Giving a defeated huff, Akefia said quietly to no one in particular, "Well, best get this over with. Ryou asked me to come along and say 'hi' to everybody, so here goes." With that comment, he walked around the corner of the mansion to where the rest of the Guardians were still gathered. Thankfully only Ryou spotted him when he peeked around the corner of the building. The white-haired boy smiled and motioned for Akefia to come over, and slowly the former Thief King approached the gathering of Guardians and guests.

Suddenly he heard a quiet yet sharp intake of breath. "_A-Akefia_?!" gasped a young woman's voice. Akefia looked over to where the sound came from and saw a beautiful pair of wide blue eyes staring back at him from the other side of the group. The owner of the eyes was a beautiful young woman with snow-white hair that reached to her waist and flawless ivory skin. She was wearing a white summer dress with short sleeves–decorated with a picture of a white dragon on the front–that reached down to the middle of her shins. Her feet were bare in the soft grass, and the gentle breeze was playing with her long hair.

All of a sudden and without warning, Akefia was struck by a series of memories from the past. It was as if someone had made a slide-show of his life, of all the times that he'd seen this young woman, and was playing it back at super-speed. Suddenly he knew who she was. "Sister? Is that _you_, Kisara?"

"Oh Akefia! It really _is_ you! I've finally found you, little brother!" Kisara cried with joy, embracing her long-lost sibling while everyone else simply stared in shock. Kisara was the Thief King's _sister_?!

_Whoa. Seth is gonna have a few surprises waiting for him when he gets back._ Mokuba thought to himself, laughing inwardly. Fate sure did have a sense of humor.

* * *

><p>The Dominion of the Beasts, midday–<p>

A gigantic onyx-colored portal opened above the castle where the humanoid Duel Monsters resided. Timaeus and Hermos feared that the Great Leviathan had returned to wreak destruction as it did before, but their fears were assuaged when they saw the form of a Blue-Eyes White Dragon dive out of the dimensional gateway. The beast and its rider landed softly in the courtyard, and the two legendary knights approached the dragon and traveler.

"Critias! You have returned!" Hermos shouted, running over to Seth, who had just dismounted. "Where have you– Wait. You are not he. What is your name traveler, and what is your business here?" a very confused Hermos asked, but not unkindly.

"My apologies, Sir Hermos. I am not the one you seek. My name is Seth, and at one time I ruled over Egypt as pharaoh, the successor to the great King Atem, my cousin."

"Ah. The once-Nameless Pharaoh." Timaeus commented. "Truly we are honored to welcome any friend of the ones who freed us. And it is good to see you again too, Seto." the knight grinned, bowing respectfully to the dragon, who looked slightly surprised at the quick discovery.

"Oh come now, Seto," Hermos laughed, sounding a great deal like Joey as he did so. "We spent over 10,000 years as dragons. Did you really think that we would not be able to recognize you?"

Not able to think of an adequate reply, Seto grimaced and averted his eyes, slightly embarrassed about his current form. He had spent nearly a month as a dragon, and he was starting to forget what being _human_ felt like. He growled in slight displeasure, then flew off to find a clear waterfall to get a drink.

"He'll return. I think he just needs some time to himself." Seth explained. He then turned to the knight arrayed in teal armor and stated, "You bear a striking resemblance to my cousin, Sir Timaeus. Could you be distantly related?"

"I suppose it _is_ a possibility, Seth. Either that or it is simply an amazing coincidence. When I still lived in Atlantis as an ordinary knight, I had a wife and an unborn child. They meant the world to me, and I swore an oath to protect them and Atlantis for as long as I lived. However it was not meant to be. I was changed into a dragon and frozen in crystal here before I had even seen my child. I do not even know what my son or daughter looked like. Therefore I can only guess at the meaning of the resemblance your cousin holds to me." Timaeus finished sadly, removing his helmet. As he did, a mass of tri-colored hair was revealed, and it was shaped into natural spikes just like Atem's was.

"It was almost the same scenario with me, Timaeus," Hermos said, breaking the sorrowful silence. "Only I had an identical older brother, and he was married and about to have a son. I never got the chance to meet my nephew." Hermos stated, carefully rubbing his eyes. "Critias had a twin sister, and it was the same situation there as well. Although I think Cristina had a daughter. It makes sense. The resemblance between you two is uncanny. The same applies to Seto and Yugi. I wonder if these traits were meant to resurface every 5,000 years?"

"If that is the case, shouldn't Joseph have a double from my time, then?" Seth asked, once again confused.

Hermos shrugged. "Who knows? There might have been someone like that, but they would not necessarily have lived in Egypt."

Seth shrugged as well, deciding to solve the mystery another day. "Where is Sir Critias anyway? You mistook me for him when we arrived, but we haven't seen him."

"Neither have we, for almost a week now," Timaeus answered, worry clouding his blue eyes. "Critias left on a hunting mission on the night of the new moon and he never returned. I pray an ill fate has not befallen him."

Hermos nodded his agreement, then added, "Truly the worst aspect of this circumstance is not the worry and fear for our comrade, but the laws of this realm. They decree that any beings equal to our power level and higher must leave at least one in the castle at all times. The night brings certain death to the lone traveler. We are forbidden to search for our friend, because we are too powerful to both leave the castle, yet too weak alone to survive in the hours that follow sunset." Hermos scowled in anger and annoyance at the situation.

"However, while _we_ may not be strong enough alone, we know that Critias _is_." Timaeus added, giving the bleak outlook a ray of hope. "The gods blessed him with great wisdom. Why else would his blade be named so? Critias is alive, I feel it in my heart." Hermos nodded, agreeing with and confirming his friend's statement.

_"We'll find him,"_ Seto volunteered, landing gently beside his brother. _"Rest assured, we'll make sure that Critias returns safely. We need to find him anyway. Maybe he can help to lift this curse on me." _After Seto had said this, Seth again mounted the dragon's back and they took off into the sky, winging toward the now-setting sun.

* * *

><p>Elsewhere in the Dominion of the Beasts, hours later–<p>

An enormous dark-blue dragon with golden eyes growled in pain as he awoke in the darkness of a large cave. From his position, he could see clearly the millions of stars that dotted the night sky. Critias grimaced at the deep gash in his side just under his right wing. The wound stretched all the way from the base of his neck to the tip of his tail, a 'gift' from a ferocious beast that had felt threatened when Critias had been passing through its territory. Suddenly the dragon heard a strange sound coming from near the mouth of his temporary shelter. It was the voice of a man. Not only that, but the voice seemed similar to his own when he was in human form. Critias listened carefully to what the strangely-familiar voice was saying.

"I think we should stay here for the night, Seto." Seth remarked, studying the constellations in the sky with interest. "Timaeus and Hermos said that this realm is dangerous at night, and I– I could never live with myself if you got hurt– again."

_"Relax Seth. I'm a lot stronger than I look. I can handle a few wild animals. Why don't we find some firewood so it won't be so cold in that cave?"_ Seto suggested.

"Good idea. I'll just get the logs from dead trees that are nearby. In fact, this might be an excellent opportunity to perfect your aim. You can use your White Lightning attack to cut the logs into a manageable size. Then I can use my power to light the fire." Seth offered.

_"Right. I think I see some dead trees about a half-mile to the west. Let's get our supplies there."_ Seto stated, squinting his dragon eyes to better see through the dark forested area. Seth nodded, and the two walked off in the direction that the sun had set.

…

Half an hour later Seth was just about to start the campfire he had made when Seto suddenly tensed. _"We're not alone, Seth."_ he mentally whispered. _"Be careful."_

Seth lit the fire cautiously and as the flames grew and burned brighter, the brothers saw a massive, dark shape shift at the back of the cave. Seto studied the enigmatic form for a minute before he realized, _"It's a huge dragon! And it's hurt!"_ He walked over to where the dragon lay and winced when he saw the bloody gash in its side. Suddenly the dragon opened its eye and a golden iris looked back at the two brothers. _"Seto? I-is that you?"_ the dragon asked weakly, using its telepathic communication ability.

_"Critias? What happened to you? How did you get that wound in your side?"_ Seto asked, concerned. The gash looked deep, and it was still bleeding slightly. The dragon shook its head carefully and answered, _"It was a careless mistake on my part. I was passing through a creature's territory two nights ago on a hunting trip, and the beast was very territorial. Personally I believe that this wound was meant as simply a warning blow. Yet had I been in my human form at the time–"_ Critias broke off, but Seto guessed what would have happened. He wouldn't have survived with an injury of that size.

Seth quietly approached the two dragons and Seto gestured toward him with one of his wings and said, _"This is my brother, Seth. He's Atem's cousin and succeeded him as pharaoh five-thousand years ago."_ Seth nodded and bowed respectfully to the dragon. Critias returned the gesture, then said, _"I would shake your hand, but I need to stay in this form. It is an honor to meet you, Seth."_

"Likewise, Sir Critias. It is an honor to meet the third legendary guardian of Atlantis." Seth replied. Looking at Critias' wound once more, he turned to his brother and asked, "Seto? Could I ask you to stay here for a bit while I find some water to clean this wound? I can use my power to heal him, and then we can all return to the castle come morning."

Seto nodded, then stood beside the other dragon's head as his brother left the cave. He carefully bent down and touched his nose to the other dragon's and willed part of his energy to flow into the injured beast. _"Do not bother, Seto. You are only wasting your energy. This wound is far too large for you to heal on your own."_ Seto backed away then, resigning himself to wait until Seth returned.

Five minutes later Seth walked back into the cave and poured some of the water into a bowl that he'd brought along. Then he built a stand for the bowl over the fire so that the water would heat up. After about two minutes, Seth removed the bowl from the fire and brought it over to the large dragon's side. Tearing a large piece of cloth from his shirt, he began to wash off the dirt and debris from the dragon's wound. Critias hissed in pain a few times as the hot water made contact with the open wound, but otherwise gave no indication of his discomfort.

After about two hours, Seth had finally removed the last of the debris from the wound and was now able to seal it shut. Seto walked over to him and offered to help with his power. Seth nodded gratefully, then put his left hand on the tip of Seto's nose and retrieved the Millennium Rod from behind his back with his right. Pointing the head of the Item at Critias' side, he concentrated his energy and the power that he was using from Seto and willed it to flow from the Eye of Wdjat into the wound. Slowly the grievous injury started to seal itself and the blood on the floor vanished, leaving the area clean. Seto grimaced as his energy continued to decrease, but he knew that it was necessary. _If I need to sacrifice all of my energy to heal Critias, then so be it._ he thought to himself.

After ten minutes of constant healing, the wound finally disappeared and no evidence of it remained. Seto collapsed to the floor with a _huff_, exhausted from the task. His energy had been nearly depleted to heal his distant ancestor and friend, and it would be some time before it returned. Seth also showed signs of fatigue, but he was not as drained as Seto was. Critias slowly stood up from his position, then carefully stretched his cramped limbs in an effort to erase the 'pins and needles' feeling. When he felt better, Critias concentrated his energy and transformed himself back into his human form. He walked over to where Seto lay sleeping, then placed a gentle gauntleted hand on the dragon's brow.

"Thank you, Seto. You were willing to give all of your power to restore me," Critias smiled. "However I think you two overdid it. I shall return the excess energy to you Seto, and to you Seth. You have saved my life, and I will never forget that deed for as long as I live." The knight's hand began to glow and over half of the energy inside his body returned to its owners. Critias smiled once again, then sat down beside Seth, who was laying against Seto's side, peacefully asleep. So the three warriors slept, awaiting the dawn.

* * *

><p><span>End of chapter 7<span>

Next chapter teaser: Confrontation

Only one more chapter to go! *sniff* I'll miss you guys!

I couldn't resist putting a little tragedy into this story. Now I really feel sorry for the three Legendary Knights! Don't you?

Mokuba's right, Seth is gonna have a few surprises waiting for him! I'm so mean to my characters!

For an illustration of Hana's 'Item', see 'Millennium Shield (front)' and 'Millennium Shield (back)' by Elementianhero22 on Deviantart.

Until next time!

Tsunami Storm


	8. Crazy

Hi! Miss me? Here is the next chapter of Brothers in Time. You finally get to see where I got the title idea in this one! Warning: this is an _extremely_ long chapter, so brace yourselves! Read, Enjoy, and Review!

* * *

><p>Malik yawned. "Are we there yet, Sis? It feels like we've been on this plane for years!"<p>

Odion laughed from his position on the other side of the young clan head of the Tombkeepers. "Try fifteen minutes, master Malik." he joked. "We won't be arriving in Japan for at least fourteen hours, so I hope you brought something to occupy yourself with in the meantime."

Malik groaned, then continued to play with his new cell phone and started a new game of Tetris. [I have Tetris on my phone.] Ishizu shook her head and smiled, then returned her attention to the book she was reading. _Young Mokuba requested that we come to see him as soon as possible,_ she mused to herself. _I sincerely hope that nothing has happened to our friends over there. He did not give a reason for the summons, but I have guessed its purpose. Malik must defeat his dark side and send him back to the Shadow Realm._

* * *

><p>Domino Airport, fifteen hours later–<p>

"Hiya guys! It's great ta see ya!" Joey called, running over to the Ishtars and slapping Malik's back like an old friend. "How ya doin'?" he asked with a wide grin.

"Physically we are very well, thank you Joseph." Ishizu smiled at her exuberant friend as Malik grinned also. "However this new disaster has brought a deep feeling of worry and dread upon us. I pray that we can avert this crisis as soon as possible."

"Yeah, this problem's got everyone on edge." Mai added, walking up to the group with Yugi, Tristan and Mokuba. As the four approached, Malik averted his eyes and looked at the ground, his face turning–if possible–even darker with shame. He hadn't had much of a chance to really apologize to Ms. Valentine for what his dark side had done to her, and he wasn't sure how to do it properly now.

"Before we do anything else," Mai continued, "I need to do something first." She walked up to Malik and stood in front of him. The young man slowly raised his head, an apologetic look on his face. Mai put a hand on his shoulder and winked playfully. "It wasn't you, so forget about it, 'kay? I have."

Malik looked at Mai in surprise, but then nodded in gratitude. _That was easier than I thought it would be–_ Malik thought to himself.

"Come on guys," Mokuba called, halfway to the doors already. "We can talk more at my place." The group nodded, then followed the raven-haired youth to the parking lot, where the Ishtars climbed into a rented Jeep and Yugi's gang got into Kaiba's red Ferrari. Then Joey and Odion drove off to the Kaiba Mansion to plan their next move to save the world from evil.

* * *

><p>The Kaiba Mansion, 45 minutes later–<p>

When Mokuba and the others arrived at the mansion, the boy could tell that something was not right. He ran inside, calling for his brother and sister. When no answer came, his fears were confirmed. He and his guests ran upstairs, searching every room. When they came to the last doorway in the hall, everyone gasped in shock.

Kisara's room had been completely destroyed. Most of the west wall had been obliterated, as well as a good portion of the ceiling. The sky-blue bed sheets had been charred in multiple places, as if they'd been burned or struck by lightning. Signs of a struggle were everywhere, and Yugi spotted one of Noah's brown shoes under the writing desk.

"Oh no," Yugi breathed, picking up the shoe. Some of the leather had been singed, and the rubber sole was melted in a few places. "Noah–" he whispered, a tear track coursing down his face.

"Hey guys?" came Tristan's voice from the other side of the room. "This is really creepy, come check it out." Mokuba and the others ran over to where Tristan was standing and gasped in shock. "That wasn't there before–" Mokuba whispered, fearing the worst. A drawing of a black Exodia was hanging on the wall from a nail, and in its massive hands was a Blue-Eyes White Dragon. The picture showed that the Exodia Necross was about to tear the dragon's neck in half, and the evil being seemed to be smiling as it did so.

"Hey, wat's dis?" Joey asked, tearing a piece of paper off of the door. "Eh, Mokuba– I tink dis is a ransom note, fer you." The blond handed the paper to the teen, who took it and read it with shaking hands and a trembling voice.

"_'If you ever want to see your brother and sister again, come to the abandoned Kaibacorp. mines in Karak. We'll be waiting.'_" Mokuba read, his eyes filling with tears of worry and fear. "Guys, this is _his_ handwriting. I'd know it anywhere. It's my stepfather. He's back."

Everyone gasped in horror at this revelation. Gozaburo Kaiba had been bad enough in the Virtual World. Now they had to deal with him _here_? "Wait a minute, Karak?" Malik gasped. "That's in Jordan, almost all the way back home! This is turning into a wild goose chase!" He opened his backpack and pulled out a Bible and a modern-day map. Thumbing to the back of the book, he located Karak on the map in the Bible, then pointed to the same spot on the map so that his friends and siblings could see. "Karak is right by the southern end of the Dead Sea. They do have a lot of abandoned mines there, and some local rumors say that the miners stopped because they supposedly found a ruined city under the body of water." [I totally made this up, and I chose Karak because it was the closest city to where Sodom used to be on old maps in the back of my own Bible.]

Ishizu raised an eyebrow at her brother, and he grinned sheepishly and replied, "Sorry Sis. I borrowed this _Bible_ from your _scriptures_ collection. I thought we might need it. Turns out we did." He put the tome back in his backpack and zipped it back up, then slung it over his shoulder.

"What are we waiting for, guys?" Mokuba suddenly shouted, making everyone jump. "Noah and Kisara are in trouble! We've gotta go save them!" He ran to the door, but Odion blocked the way.

"I know how you feel, Mokuba," Malik said, placing a calm yet restraining hand on the teen's shoulder. "but we can't just go rushing into this blindly. We need a strategy, otherwise we will be doomed to fail."

"You're right Malik," the boy sniffed after a minute of silence. "Seto would think things through too. We need a plan. A plan to defeat those three monsters once and for all!"

* * *

><p>Somewhere deep below the Dead Sea–<p>

Kisara struggled in her crazed captor's hold as he chained her to the damp wall of the abandoned mine, but her efforts were in vain. Thanks to the power of the Millennium Rod, Dark Seto now possessed more strength than any human on earth.

"Who are you? Why are you doing this? How is it that you so resemble my brother Seto and fiancé, Seth?" Kisara cried, continuing to struggle in the man's impossibly-strong grip. He did not answer, but instead grinned with glee as the manacles clicked shut around the young woman's small wrists, relishing her obvious fear, pain and discomfort. As he knelt down to restrain her ankles as well, Kisara mustered her strength and gave him a well-aimed kick in the face. Instead of flinching back as anyone else would have, however, he simply smirked up at his captive and grabbed her right calf. With a simple and quick turn of his wrist, Dark Seto snapped Kisara's leg bones in two, leaving a single straight line where the shafts had separated.

Kisara cried out in agony when her leg was broken, shocked that this man possessed such power. Eventually the pain became too much for her and she lost consciousness from shock. Kisara's screams had aroused Marik's curiosity, and the wild-haired man poked his head into the room to ascertain the source of the delightful sound. Dark Seto merely shook his head at his associate, who slouched off, clearly disappointed. Next to Kisara was Noah, chained to the wall as well, unconscious after his battle to protect his adopted sister.

…

"Well?" Gozaburo demanded as Dark Seto walked into the room minutes later, still smirking and wiping the blood from his lip.

"Our prisoners are confined and silenced, Father." Dark Seto grinned. "Your previous son put up a struggle, but he was no match for the _true_ Kaiba heir. The same goes for the girl. The vessel for that overgrown albino lizard is no match for us."

"I see," Gozaburo answered, not returning his accomplice's expression. "So what is _that_, if she's not a threat?" he asked, glaring at a new droplet of blood that had appeared on Dark Seto's lip.

"Nothing." he answered, wiping it away and scowling in annoyance. "That wench just thought she'd be feisty for a minute. Stupid mistake. Now a broken leg will be the least of her problems. When we destroy her beloved, I'll make sure that she can't look away."

Gozaburo threw back his head and laughed, then said, clapping a hand on the man's shoulder and walking to the destroyed doorway, "I like the way you think, son. You are truly the heir I raised. Noah, Seto and Mokuba were all soft-hearted failures. Now, tell me exactly what your plan is to destroy our enemies."

* * *

><p>Elsewhere in the mines–<p>

Marik silently congratulated himself on finding this place. The ancient underground ruins that the miners had uncovered reminded him vaguely of the area in which he'd been born– created– whatever. He was standing in a hidden city that had been destroyed long ago by a cataclysmic consequence of the inhabitants' exceeding decadence and depravity. Marik surveyed his surroundings with an interested expression. He could still find scorch marks on some of the broken walls, as if fire had rained down from the sky before an earthquake destroyed the city, causing the entire landmass to sink beneath the waters of the Dead Sea. Marik remembered his hikari learning about this city called Sodom that was destroyed in one night by the Hebrews' 'God'.

Marik rolled his eyes. There was no 'God'. Slifer, Obelisk and Ra were merely cards in a children's game. Here a man was his own god. No supernatural force could tell him what and what not to do! "Come, you fools! Come to your ultimate destruction!" he roared with evil laughter.

* * *

><p>The Dominion of the Beasts–<p>

"Critias! You are unharmed! Thank goodness, Timaeus and I were nearly at our wit's end with worry!" Hermos cried happily as the navy-blue dragon landed in the courtyard, Seth and Seto close behind him. The dragon transformed into a grinning knight as Timaeus ran up, then he embraced his two oldest friends in a hug that would have crushed the bones of weaker men. "Timaeus. Hermos. I am glad you are well also." Critias answered simply. He took a few steps backward toward Seth and Seto, then continued, "My friends, I have need of your assistance. Seto has been unable to return to his human form even with Seth's efforts, and has need to return to his dimension. Will you aid him– us– in this matter?"

Timaeus and Hermos both looked at one another, then nodded slowly, smiling. "Seto," Timaeus called. "rise and come forward." Seto got up from his position and walked over to where the three knights stood, clueless as to what they were about to do. "You are familiar with the 'Dragon's Dance' ritual?" Hermos asked and Seto nodded, remembering the ceremony that had taken place the last time he was here.

"This ritual will be much like that one as far as the movements and positions go." Timaeus stated.

"However there is one major difference. In this ritual, one of us is required to be transformed in order to undo the transformation of another." Hermos continued, speaking for his friend.

"In this case, the one to transform will be me, since this ritual is a 'healing process', in a way." Critias finished. "I am sure that you know which trap card I must merge with, Seto."

The Blue-Eyes White Dragon nodded, turning to his brother. _"Seth, my deck. Draw out 'Gift of the Mystical Elf' and hold it up. Critias will know what to do from there."_ Seth nodded, then selected the appropriate card and held it high, the front facing the four dragons. Suddenly light-blue sparks fell from the sky and onto Critias, who began to glow. Seth and the other dragons had to turn away after a minute, as the light had become too bright. When the light faded, Seth gasped in amazement. Critias had completely changed his appearance. Now he resembled an Eastern dragon, such as those from the Orient. His scales were a bright azure and his eyes gleamed like cerulean sapphires. "'Azure Light Dragon'," Seth whispered to himself, then thought, _How did I know that?_ [Don't bother looking this card up. It doesn't exist.]

At a nod from 'Azure Light Dragon', Seto and the other dragons rose up into the sky as one, then began twisting and turning in complex patterns to perform the sacred ritual. Seto stayed in the center while the other three dragons circled around him. When the ritual was almost complete, Seto stopped moving and hovered in the air as the other three stopped as well. Without warning, Hermos and Critias shot bursts of light out of their mouths, and the blasts sped toward Seto.

Before Seth could react, the energy fused with his brother's draconian form and engulfed the dragon in a sphere of white-blue light. The orb slowly descended to the courtyard, then gradually faded and diminished. In its place knelt Seto Kaiba, clad in his White Dragon armor and wielding his sword of White Lightning in his right hand. He slowly opened his eyes and rose to his feet, sheathing his blade as he did so. The three dragons landed around him, then changed back into their human forms. Seto didn't need to say anything. The thanks in his eyes was beyond words, and the knights nodded wordlessly in acknowledgment.

"Come back with us." Seto offered, addressing all three of the knights. "The human world is your home, isn't it? You've been stuck here for way too long."

The three knights smiled sadly and shook their heads. Critias answered, "We appreciate the offer, but _this_ is our home now. We are the guardians of this dimension, and we swore to protect it all our days. _Your_ home is the human realm. Go," Critias smiled kindly, small tears appearing at the edges of his eyes. "your family needs you. Do not be saddened by our separation. We share a bond that has lasted and that will last for millennia. We will always be brothers."

Seth nodded slowly in understanding. "Brothers in Time."

Critias nodded as well, then looked at his friends. As one they raised their right arms and caused their hands to glow blue, creating a portal back to Earth. "Go my friends," Timaeus commanded gently. "And remember, our door is always open to you."

Seth and Seto nodded, then walked to the swirling portal back to their world. "Wait! I almost forgot!" Critias called, running back over to them. "If you ever have need to transform again–for whatever reason–all you need do is concentrate. If you wear your armor before you transform, there will be no pain from the changes. When you wish to transform back to your human form, simply concentrate your energy and your natural magic will do the rest."

Seto raised an eyebrow, confused. "That is how you are able to wield the Millennium Rod, Seto." Seth explained. "Every human being possesses magical power; however most have forgotten how to use it. It manifests itself as one's Ka–or spirit beast–the true form of one's soul. For me it was Duos. For Kisara it was the White Dragon. For Mahaad the Illusion Magician, and so on."

Seto nodded in understanding, then he and Seth bade farewell to the three guardians and stepped through the dimensional gateway back to Earth.

* * *

><p>Cairo Airport, the next day, 10:00 am–<p>

"All right guys, are we all ready to go?" Malik asked as he met his friends in the airport lobby. "It's about a four hour drive from here to Karak, Jordan, so I hope you guys brought something to do."

"Yep!" Joey confirmed, pulling his deck out of one pocket and a paper dueling field out of the other. "Me an' Yugi are gonna battle da whole way. Right pal? I need practice wit' dis Millennium Key. We're gonna have some duels wit' real monsters!"

Yugi laughed. "That's right, Joey. I could use some practice using the Puzzle too. Atem was always the one who used it for the duels." he grinned, looking at his double, who smiled back. As the group left the airport and climbed into the rented Jeeps, Mokuba turned to Malik and asked shyly, "Hey Malik? Can I ride with you guys? These Jeeps are built to hold only four people, and we've got six."

Malik nodded kindly and said, "Sure Mokuba. Hop in." He stepped aside, and the teen climbed into the back seat as Odion and Ishizu claimed the driver's and front seats. After Mokuba was buckled in, Malik climbed into the seat behind his sister and closed the door. Once everyone had stopped fighting over the seats in the other vehicle, they drove off, heading for Karak and the final showdown between good and evil.

* * *

><p>Abandoned mines near Karak, 2:00 pm–<p>

"Well guys. This is it." Mokuba stated, a little nervous about what was going to happen. He wondered which of his friends would face who on the bad guys' team. He knew that Malik needed to destroy his yami, and that his brother would have to face his dark side and conquer it. "I just wish that Seto were here. I really miss him. I wonder if they found Critias yet and changed my brother back."

"I'm sure they have, Mokuba." Yugi comforted. "Kaiba will return as soon as he can. Seth too. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if they are on their way right now."

"That's right, Mokuba." Atem added. "My cousin has a habit of getting things done as quickly and accurately as possible. Seto will be back before you know it."

"Thanks guys." Mokuba smiled. Then he approached the mine that once belonged to Kaibacorp. and slipped under the 'Do Not Enter – Condemned' sign hanging from a chain. The group of nine friends walked deeper and deeper into the mines, and Joey was thankful that he'd thought to bring a few flashlights. After four hours of walking in the dark cavern, they came to a fork in the tunnel. Suddenly the Millennium Eye started to glow in Tristan's pocket. Curious, he took it out and held it flat in his hand. The Item started to spin of its own accord, then suddenly stopped, the Wdjat symbol facing the path on the left. "That's handy– and creepy." Tristan said, raising his eyebrows, then put the Eye back in his coat pocket.

…

After another hour Mokuba and the others reached the end of the mines. When everyone had assembled, they all gasped in wonder. Although the buildings were in ruins, everyone could tell that this had been a magnificent city once. Incredible carvings adorned the walls and buildings that were still standing, and statues of marble still stood in long-dry fountains scattered throughout the city.

"Well, well, well. Looks like the gang's all here." came a sinister voice from behind them. Everyone wheeled around, and there stood Dark Seto, leaning up against the wall near the entrance to the mine. He approached the group, clapping his hands in a mock-congratulatory manner. "I'm surprised that you all made it here so quickly–" he said, trailing off with an evil grin on his face.

"You guys go after Gozaburo and Marik. I'll handle this clown." Mokuba whispered, causing the people that had seen Dark Seto duel before to snicker. They remembered that pink-haired freak that Atem had defeated in Duelist Kingdom.

"Are you sure, Mokuba? He's really tough, and he has your brother's deck!" Yugi reciprocated, to which Mokuba nodded reassuringly. "Don't worry Yugi. Seto taught me everything I know. I'll beat him no sweat!"

Yugi and the others nodded as Mokuba walked away from his friends to where Dark Seto stood, still smirking. "Ahh, the first of the sacrificial lambs for the slaughter!" Dark Seto laughed, snapping his fingers. Suddenly a Duel Ring rose up out of the ground and activated itself as the duelists took their positions on either side of it, Mokuba on the blue side and Dark Seto on the red. Just as the towers displayed the life-point count, Dark Seto performed that odd mental twist that would take this duel to the Shadow Realm.

"I don't fear you, fiend!" Mokuba shouted in an attempt to hide the discomfort he felt as the dark clouds spread all over the hall, cutting him and his opponent off from the outer world and from his friends.

"I should hope not, Mokuba. Fearless foes are much more satisfying." his big brother's twisted doppelganger announced calmly.

"I think you'll find that Seto taught me well. My turn! I'll start this duel with a trusty friend of mine: 'Mystical Sheep #2' [800/1000] in Defense Mode!" Mokuba's monster was indeed just that: A salmon-colored ram with a hypnosis ring attached to its rat-like tail via a string. It rose up from the shadows as if it had ascended from a hidden portal, and Mokuba was baffled at how realistic it looked. His opponent however was not impressed at all. "Empty boasting will not save you, Mokuba. Your monster is almost as pathetic as your weakling of a brother. All three of them actually."

Mokuba scowled as the copy insulted his family, but he didn't let the taunts affect his dueling strategy. "Come on then, if you think my boasts are empty! I'll set one card face-down and end my turn!"

"I'll show you how this game is _supposed_ to be fought. With strong monsters – monsters like this one: 'Ryu-Kishin Powered'! [1600/1000]"

At Dark Seto's command, a terrible creature arose from the shadows. It possessed neither skin nor eyes as far as Mokuba could tell, and spikes were protruding from its flesh in several locations. Mokuba had never liked this beast even when his _real_ brother was the one commanding it, and now that the floating shadows were partially hiding the creature from view it looked even more repulsive.

"I'll break you, Mokuba!" Dark Seto shouted with a malicious grin. "Ryu-Kishin, attack his pathetic monster!"

"HA! I don't think so," Mokuba shouted triumphantly, countering his enemy's attack by revealing his face-down card: "I activate 'Path of Blue-Eyes'! This card allows me to sacrifice one of my monsters, thereby negating your attack. But that's not all it does!"

A halo of light began to surround Mokuba's sheep, its gleaming light penetrating the darkness of their battlefield like razors through rice paper. Ryu-Kishin halted its furious charge, surprised. Snorting, it withdrew back to its master's side of the field. Apparently it was not accustomed to light, and the same could be said of its master. "So? What else does your pathetic card do, whelp?" Dark Seto hissed through clenched teeth, covering his eyes with the sleeve of his black overcoat. By doing so, he could not see how Mokuba shuffled through his deck in order to add his brother's signature card to his hand.

"It allows me to draw out our family's ace monster and add it to my hand, the 'Blue-Eyes White Dragon' [3000/2500]!"

The card had stopped radiating beams of light once it was in Mokuba's hand, and the Shadow Realm reclaimed the battlefield once more. By now the twisted doppelganger of Kaiba had regained his self-confidence. With a patronizing smirk, he pointed out that the card alone was worthless, for Mokuba was lacking the means of summoning the dragon. He placed two of his cards face-down on the field before he ended his turn.

_Dang it, he's got a point there–_ Mokuba thought. _I may have Blue-Eyes in my hand, but he's not helpful as long as I can't afford the two sacrifices it will require to summon him!_

Upon drawing his next card however, his face brightened up. _But _that'll_ help–_ he thought to himself. Aloud he exclaimed: "I'll set my next card face-down! Now show me what you've got!"

"Tch. Your last monster was barely worth the effort it took to dispose of it, and I highly doubt that your lousy animal-deck contains any _real_ threats. Looks like 'our' brother hasn't taught you that well after all–"

"He's _my_ brother, not yours, you creep!" Mokuba yelled, but immediately regretted his words. Seto had warned him about indulging this kind of person.

The malicious grin on his opponent's face widened, and a low-pitched chuckle that had nothing in common with his true brother made his skin crawl. "Of course, my mistake." the doppelganger said with relish. Just as Marik was fond of physical torture and pain, Dark Seto enjoyed his victims' mental and emotional agony.

"Time to draw my next card, I suppose." Kaiba's evil twin picked up one card in an infuriatingly slow move, maintaining eye contact with Mokuba at all times. When his gaze finally shifted over to his card, he began to cackle in triumph, for he had just drawn the card that would ensure his victory. Dark Seto opened the Field Spell slot of his Duel Disk: "It is time to bid the Shadow Realm farewell and enter into my personal dominion!"

Taken aback, Mokuba started. "_Your_ dominion? What do you mean?" Mokuba asked, curious in spite of himself.

"Keh-heh– you heard me right! Here we go: I activate the Field card 'Oneiros'!"

The dark clouds–blue and purple alike–that everyone had to come to associate with the Shadow Realm slowly faded away and were replaced by a landscape that was previously unheard of. Both Mokuba and his opponent now stood upon barren rocks under a stormy sky that was bleeding crimson. Lightning crashed in various places around them, and the grass underneath Mokuba's feet felt scratchy and dead. The ruins of once-glorious buildings stood empty and deserted; Columns, pillars and archways lay broken and scattered at their feet. All life seemed to have fled this ruinous site – no insect whizzed through the grass, no bird traversed the wild sky. The weather-beaten statues alone stood guard in this realm. [This card is made-up by my co-writer. So don't bother trying to find it. I guarantee you won't. ;)]

"Why did you take us here? What is this?" Mokuba cried, and he was surprised at how scared his voice sounded in this forsaken place.

"This, 'dear brother', is the Nightmare City of Forgotten Souls, Oneiros. And it is–more importantly–my most powerful field-spell card. In this kingdom where I am absolute ruler, death has its own logic. Whenever I summon one of my monsters, I can have one of my DARK monsters that had previously been sent to the Graveyard return as a spirit and take possession of a newly-summoned creature by removing the DARK monster from play permanently. The possessed creature thereby gains 500 additional points in terms of both Attack and Defense! Isn't that wonderful?" the fiend crowed.

"It's twisted! Your disregard for your monsters' dignity is revolting. All the more reason for me to destroy you!" Mokuba answered, disgusted.

"Think what you want and enjoy your final moments of bravado, Mokuba," the evil clone shrugged. "The powers I am able to acquire in this world are limitless. You'll learn this soon enough. Come forth, 'Kaiser Sea Horse' [1700/1650]!"

* * *

><p>Somewhere in Domino City, 4:15 am–<p>

Hana Itonami let herself in to the last abandoned warehouse on the block. A young man known as Rex Raptor–the Dino duelist–had not seen his friend in months. Hana had heard about his search, and so volunteered to help look for Weevil. When she entered the nearly-empty warehouse, she grimaced and mouthed, "Ew. I don't even _want_ to know what happened to this person." looking at a corpse that was burned beyond recognition. It was suspended by a rusty length of barbed wire that was tied to the metal rafters, and the remains of a jumper cable hung from one of the loops of iron. The other severed end was connected to an old generator.

Carefully stepping closer, Hana tripped over a pair of somethings and nearly fell flat on her face. Regaining her balance just in time, she looked back to determine what the unidentified objects were. Hana was surprised to find that they were a pair of child's sneakers, with white rubber for the sole, black and yellow-green fabric for the shoe and tongue, and yellow laces that were tied into butterfly wings. "Hm. I think I just found Weevil–" she shuddered as she glanced forward again. "–or at least what's left of him. I'm glad I told Rex to search the other end of town."

She slowly approached the chain of barbed wire, then–although completely grossed out–raised her hands so they pointed at the body and willed her magic to do its job. Slowly the blackened flesh began to lighten and become whole, and sea-green hair grew out of the body's scorched scalp. Hana quickly summoned a green shirt and black shorts out of thin air and put them on the body to save herself from much embarrassment later. Finding a pair of wire cutters, Hana carefully severed the chain and unwound the bands from Weevil's waist. By this time the Restoration Spell was nearly complete, and Hana quickly grabbed the boy's shoes and slipped them onto his feet. _I'm surprised that these shoes are still in good condition–_ Hana mused to herself. _A place like this is bound to have rats._ Then she shrugged. It didn't really matter.

Seconds before the spell ended, Hana dragged Weevil over to the nearest wall and propped him up against it in a comfortable sitting position. Then she patiently waited for the boy to open his eyes. Which he did after two long minutes. Weevil groaned. "Ugh. Where– where am I?" he asked in his nasally voice.

"You mean you don't remember?" Hana asked kindly, silently kneeling down next to him. Weevil jumped and looked around wildly, searching for the source of the voice. However he knew it was a fruitless effort. Without his glasses, he was as blind as a bat.

"It's all right. I'm a friend." Hana reassured in a calming voice, and she was pleased when the duelist visibly relaxed. _Maybe it's a good thing he doesn't remember. No one should have to remember their own death._ she thought. Out loud she said, "A friend of yours is looking for you. Come on, let's get out of here." Hana took his left hand in her right and slowly led him out of the warehouse.

When they came out into the crisp night air, Hana breathed deeply in appreciation of the fresh air after the musty warehouse. Then she pulled a small cell phone from her pocket and called Rex as they had agreed. She told him that his friend would be returned home safely and to go back home and back to sleep. He agreed sleepily and hung up with a quick "Thanks." Hana smiled slightly, then turned to Weevil and said, "Come on my friend, let's get you home."

* * *

><p><span>End of chapter 8<span>

Next chapter teaser: Crazy

Weevil's back. Not sure if that's good or bad. Depends on if you like him or not, I guess. I just couldn't stand to permanently kill off one of my characters. Also it gives me a chance to tell you where Hana was during the whole 'confrontation'.

Yes, Kisara and Seth are engaged. I know that they are adopted brother and sister in this story, but keep in mind that they are _not really related_. Just to clear that up. It's like what Stephanie Meyer did in her Twilight series. Same basic principle.

This chapter also contains a reference to Yugioh: the Abridged Series. Thanks to LittleKuriboh for lots of laughs!

I always found it weird that Seto, Yugi and Joey automatically knew the names of the cards when they fused with the legendary dragons. I mean, they had never seen those cards before, so how could they possibly know what they would become and what their effects were?

For Critias' transformation into the fictional 'Azure Light Dragon', just imagine what Gyarados looks like, only all blue. (You know, the evolved form of the Pokémon Magikarp? Yeah, _that_ Gyarados.)

Also, Hermos' blade is known as the 'Sword of Renewal', so that's why he and Critias 'attacked' Seto. To restore him. Clever, eh?

Well, see you next chapter!

Tsunami Storm


	9. Confrontation

Okay, _this_ is the last chapter of Brothers in Time. I have to warn you though, it's super long again. Read, Enjoy, and Review!

* * *

><p>Elsewhere in Sodom–<p>

Marik approached his captives with an interested expression on his face. He had never seen such technology as was used to return Noah Kaiba to the physical world, and the White Dragon was an enigma as well. Never had he seen an individual with such fair skin as hers. Her long hair looked like a silver river, and her eyes–though closed at the moment–reminded him of the sea on a cloudless day. _She really is beautiful–_ he mused. _I can see why that fool Seth is attracted to her._ Then he shook his head. _Am I going soft?! This girl is my prey now. I can torture her as much as I want after I take care of my useless hikari and his family for good. And those other meddling kids–_ He stalked off then, embarrassed with himself for even _thinking_ such weak thoughts.

* * *

><p>Gozaburo Kaiba sat in a marble chair that hadn't been destroyed when the city was and thought to himself, <em>So, it has finally begun. Mokuba, Seto, you will finally pay for what you did to me, the man who raised you! Soon, Kaibacorp. will be under my control once again, and my real son will be my second-in-command, the man your friends call 'Dark' Seto. Seto! Mokuba! I will destroy you! As well as your twin, your sister, and my former son!<em>

* * *

><p>Yugi and the others raced through the ancient metropolis, searching for Marik or Gozaburo, hoping to find where the demons were holding Noah and Kisara prisoner. As they were running from building to building, a black portal opened up beside them. Out of it climbed the last person they were expecting to see: Seth. He looked around for a moment in confusion, but recovered when he spotted his cousin and his friends.<p>

"Seth! You're all right! I'm so glad to see you!" Atem rejoiced, embracing his cousin warmly as the still-slightly-surprised Guardian returned the gesture. "I have missed you too, my k– Atem. And you, my friends. It is good to see you again." he stated, bowing to each person in turn. When his eyes fell on the Ishtars, Yugi explained, "These are some of our friends from modern-day Egypt. Odion, Ishizu and Malik Ishtar." Each one nodded as Yugi introduced them, and Seth bowed in greeting.

"Ah, so _you_ are Malik. Seto spoke with you the night that all of this started. I must say, I particularly enjoyed your comment about the gods messing with my brother." Seth chuckled. "Our circumstances certainly seem to suggest that they have a sense of humor."

Malik looked confused for a moment, but then remembered his conversation with Kaiba and snickered as well. "I was just trying to get him to lighten up. Even over the phone I could tell that he was on his last nerve. I didn't want Kaiba to have a mental breakdown. The gods know he has enough stress in his life as it is."

"Speaking of Kaiba, where is he?" Yugi asked suddenly, looking around for his friend. "I'dve thought he'd be with you, Seth."

Seth suddenly looked worried. "I don't know. We walked through the portal at the same time, so he should be here. I hope that he's not stuck in the space between dimensions!" he answered wide-eyed.

"Nyeh, don' sweat it, pal. He probably chose to appear where Mokuba is. You know, bein' dat dey're brothers an' all. Mokuba's been real worried 'bout 'im. He's been worried about both a' ya, come ta tink of it." Joey reassured, putting a comradely arm around his friend's shoulder and giving him a gentle side-hug. "Now come on. Let's find yer other brother an' dat fiancé a' yers."

* * *

><p>Meanwhile–<p>

Mokuba's 'Blue-Eyes White Dragon' [3000/2500] was the sole tower of strength in that twisted landscape of chaos. With the simple trick of using his 'Graceful Dice' once again, Mokuba had managed to defeat his opponent's Blue-Eyes by using his own, and yet it had been a hard fight. By constantly making use of his Field Card 'Oneiros', Dark Seto had managed to deal copious amounts of harsh blows to his young opponent. All Mokuba had managed to keep in play was his Blue-Eyes White Dragon and one face-down card. At 300 Life Points each, the end of their duel seemed near.

"And now Mokuba, it's over!" the villain cried at the top of his lungs. "I activate 'Call of the Haunted' in order to once again revive my Blue-Eyes White Dragon!"

Out of the scorched earth, Dark Seto's copy of the Blue-Eyes card rose up in front of him, clawing its way out of the ground. Both dragons growled at each other from opposite sides of the field, yet neither moved a muscle while they awaited the order to attack from their respective masters.

"This is madness!" gasped Mokuba. "If you make them fight now, they will destroy one another!"

"It seems you have forgotten about my Field Spell card! By removing my formerly destroyed 'Invitation to a Dark Sleep' [1500/1800] from my Graveyard, I can have this wicked sorcerer's ghost seize control of my dragon, thereby filling it with the supreme power of darkness!"

The destroyed monster's form (A man dressed in a fashion similar to the Dark Magician, only in slightly darker fabrics and with a third eye on his forehead) manifested itself above the revived dragon's head, where it hovered in the poisoned air of Oneiros for a few seconds, before hurling itself into the Blue-Eyes' head.

"And that was your final mistake, fiend!" Mokuba established with a grim expression.

His opponent did quite a bad job at hiding his anger at the young man's confidence: "What do you mean by that, whelp?"

"That your disregard for your monster's free will has doomed you. Once its soul has been purged of the demonic presence within its body, it will turn on you!" Mokuba stated.

"Purge its soul? Here in the realm of Oneiros?! HA! Show me how you would purge it, then!" Dark Seto challenged.

"Gladly! I activate my face-down card 'World Suppression'!" yelled Mokuba.

The playing field responded almost immediately to Mokuba's trap card – the menacing red clouds of Oneiros were torn asunder by a veritable explosion of golden light, and in every spot that the sun rays connected to the ground, the dark and barren grass immediately regained its color, straightened up and grew. More important however was the possessed Blue Eyes-White Dragon's reaction to the sudden change of scenery. The red glow in its eyes disappeared just as its ATK dropped back to 3000.

"And as it is no longer bound to that fearsome landscape of yours, the dragon will regain its true, pure self and will no longer be yours to command!" the boy announced triumphantly.

As if to prove Mokuba's words true, the dragon hesitated in its attack, and instead–slowly at first, but picking up pace rapidly–turned its enormous head toward its controller. The youngest Kaiba barely spotted the dark silhouette of the demonic sorcerer that had taken control of the dragon's form as it was driven out of the latter's skull. The sinister apparition convulsed in the gleaming sunlight for a few seconds before fading from existence with a ear-piercing shriek. The righteous anger that burned in the dragon's eyes was beyond description.

"No! NO! I cannot lose! I cannot lose like this!" screamed Dark Seto in a strangled voice, his confidence faltering as he stood eye-to-eye with the creature he had forced to give up its free will and dignity.

"Without Oneiros–" Mokuba explained coldly, his voice conveying contempt with every syllable, "–without the possession, it should be clear that you are not a _real_ Kaiba and do not deserve to call yourself such. Only a _real_ Kaiba is capable of retaining control of the Blue-Eyes White Dragon. _You_ are not."

The dragon's jaws were radiating a cold white light, which tore through the last remaining red clouds of Oneiros in the same way that the sun's rays did. Unlike Mokuba, Dark Seto could not stand the gleaming light, but there was nowhere to back off to, and before he could say one more word, Seto Kaiba's evil half had been engulfed in the searing stream of White Lightning from the dragon's maw. Just before he was completely vaporized however, he smirked and silently turned over one of his set traps.

When the light from Blue-Eyes' attack had faded, Mokuba looked over at the opposite side of the field in triumph. He had single-handedly defeated Seto's dark side! His brother would be so proud of him! As the dust cleared however, his grin was slowly replaced by a look of shocked horror. On the opposite side of the dueling field stood his opponent, still alive and grinning evilly.

"No way! How could you survive? It's not possible, unless you cheated!" Mokuba cried, thunderstruck.

Dark Seto merely continued to smirk and held up his trap card, which he had flipped right before the attack landed. "Oh don't tell me you've never heard of 'Nutrient Z'! It increases my Life Points by 4000 when I'm in a pinch, and thanks to it, your pathetic lizard's attack was useless!" he laughed as his Life Points increased to 1300.

_Oh great. _Now_ what?_ Mokuba thought as his crazed opponent continued to gloat. Meanwhile the Blue-Eyes White Dragon that Dark Seto had commanded flew over to Mokuba's side of the field, eager to serve the one who had liberated it. Mokuba looked at the dragon in interest. It somehow didn't seem like the usual Blue-Eyes. As he stared at the dragon's eye, it winked at him. Mokuba thought, _Seto?! Is that you?_ The Blue-Eyes silently stared back at him, but Mokuba could now see love and loyalty reflected in the dragon's gaze.

"HA! I see that Seto has chosen to join us in this fight! Perfect! Now I can kill _two_ Kaibas for the price of one!" Dark Seto laughed maniacally, drawing his next card. "This just isn't your day Mokuba," Dark Seto laughed. "I summon 'Lord of Dragons' [1200/1100] to the field!" he placed the card, and a man clad in dragon-bone armor appeared on his side of the field. "But that's not all–" he gloated, "because now I'll equip him with the 'Flute of Summoning Dragon'! You already know what this does, so come on out, my final Blue-Eyes White Dragon!"

A portal opened behind Dark Seto, and the white dragon flew out and landed in front of him, seeming to shield its master from the other two Blue-Eyes. "And now my Oneiros card returns to power up my beast, increasing my creature's ATK by 500!" His Blue-Eyes roared in agony as its strength increased as it was possessed, then it grinned threateningly over at Mokuba, who could only watch in sadness for the creature.

"You know how they say that 'Love conquers all', Mokuba?" Dark Seto asked, looking honestly curious for once. Confused, Mokuba nodded, wondering where the fiend was going with this. "Well they were wrong! Blue-Eyes attack! Destroy the dragon on your right and break the bond between these brothers!" he cried triumphantly, grinning evilly over at his opponent.

Mokuba gasped in horror and looked at his field once more, but there was nothing he could do to stop the attack. The burst of White Lightning surged toward the dragon and struck it in the chest. Blue-Eyes roared in pain, and Mokuba could almost hear his brother's voice mixed in with the dragon's. Blue-Eyes tried to resist the attack, but to no avail. In its last few seconds on this earth, it looked back at Mokuba with a sad expression, as if it were saying, _"Goodbye–"_ Then the dragon was destroyed and shattered into a million shards of light.

Mokuba couldn't believe it. Just like that, his big brother was gone. He would never see him again. He gasped slowly in disbelief, his dark-gray eyes wide with shock and denial. _It can't be. Seto can't be– gone–_ Mokuba thought to himself. _No– no– NO!_

"And with that I end my turn." Dark Seto stated calmly with a yawn, acting as though nothing had happened. "Your move." he laughed, teasing the stricken boy. When no reply came, Dark Seto sighed, "Oh well, I guess you pass your turn then. My turn again!" he laughed with mocking child-like glee. "I guess I _could_ show you mercy– you _are_ my little brother in a way. So I won't attack with Blue-Eyes this turn–" Suddenly he grinned evilly and laughed, "–Just kidding! I always hated you anyway, you sniveling brat! Blue-Eyes attack! Destroy his pathetic lizard and the rest of his Life Points!"

Mokuba barely even felt the blast as his Life Points dropped to zero, still devastated from what Dark Seto had done. The dueling ring disappeared–the monsters along with it–and Mokuba fell ten feet to the ground and landed on his backside, barely even reacting to the pain that lanced up his spine from his abused tailbone.

Dark Seto had jumped off the platform and landed cat-like on his feet. "This _was_ a Shadow Game Mokie, and you lost." he spat, using Seto's nickname to further torment the stricken youth. "However, since you're already suffering, I see no point in a penalty game." he mused, walking off to find someone else to torture and destroy. As he left the room, he whispered with an odd expression on his face, "Like I said, you _are_ my brother."

* * *

><p>Sodom, a few minutes later–<p>

Yugi and the others came running when they heard the unmistakable roar of the Blue-Eyes White Dragon. They found Mokuba on the ground, holding his legs in a tight fetal position and rocking back and forth. When Joey asked him what was the matter and where the bad guy had run off to, Mokuba couldn't answer. He only kept repeating random words in no perceivable order. "Seto– Blue-Eyes– gone– _shattered–_ no– _monster–_ Seto– gone– _no–_"

"Aw man! Wat did dat creep _do_ ta 'im? He's like catatonic! Hey Yug'– I mean– Atem, can you get 'im outta dis Penalty Game?" he asked, looking at his friend.

"I'm afraid he's not _in_ a Penalty Game, Joey." Atem sighed, looking down at his young friend. "Something else has caused this, brought this state upon him. I will do what I can, but I fear that the only cure is a miracle." he stated sadly, touching the boy's forehead gently. Memories of the recent duel flooded before the former pharaoh's eyes, and he gasped in horror. "My friends, I have terrible news. Kaiba– is gone. Destroyed by his dark half. For good."

"No way!" Tristan shouted, causing everyone but Mokuba to jump. "Kaiba wouldn't go out so easily. If there's one thing I know –and admire about him– is that he's a survivor. He's alive, I _know_ it."

At this Mokuba regained a bit of life in his blank eyes, but remained motionless and silent. "Well then! What are we waiting for, guys?" Téa stated with a determined glare. "Let's go find those creeps and give them a world-class butt-kicking!"

* * *

><p>Meanwhile, somewhere else in Sodom–<p>

"Well? I trust that you 'took care' of things with our guests. Right son?" a smiling Gozaburo asked Dark Seto when he walked into the room, still wearing that odd expression on his face. The young man merely nodded at his new father and sat down next to the wall. "Now that Seto is gone, we only need to wait for our friend Marik to take care of the others: his hikari and the rest of the family." he stated calmly.

"WHAT?! I thought I told you specifically to leave those two alive! It was meant to be _me_ that killed my stepsons! Can you do _nothing_ right?!" Gozaburo bellowed, causing Dark Seto to frown in impatience. First Marik had resurrected this man to make up for his previous attempt to destroy Kaiba, and now this old man was ordering him around?! Not a chance. This was the last straw.

"He decided to join that loser of a brother of his in our duel. My Oneiros-powered Blue-Eyes took him out of the game. What was I _supposed_ to do? Let that sniveling _brat_ win?! If you wanted revenge, you should have gotten it a long time ago!" he roared back, causing Gozaburo to step back a few inches. This young man was very intimidating when provoked, not to mention he was at least a head taller than his stepfather was.

Dark Seto silently created a soccer-ball-sized orb of Dark Energy in his palm, then started tossing it up and down like a baseball. He'd had enough of this old man giving him orders, and he almost felt the same about Marik as well. If it were not for the rule that only a yami's creator could destroy it, he would have eliminated both of his partners a long time ago. He preferred to work alone, and performed better when he didn't have someone else on his team. Backing away slowly, Gozaburo warned, "Do not take another step son. If it wasn't for me, you wouldn't even have come into existence!" he ended up shouting with every last ounce of authority he was able to muster in the face of his insane creation.

"You act as if you have a say in the matter–" Dark Seto chuckled before he raised one finger, freezing Gozaburo right where he stood, "–which you don't." he smirked, shoving the Dark Energy ball into Gozaburo's stomach.

It took a whole two minutes for the former tycoon to die, and Dark Seto stood by and calmly watched every second of it. With a final gasp Gozaburo Kaiba breathed his last, and his associate commented dryly, "Well I guess the Vice-President has now become President. Farewell 'father'. I hope you find solace in the clarity of Hell." Then he walked off to find where Marik had gotten to.

* * *

><p>Elsewhere–<p>

"Kisara! Noah!" Seth called as the group desperately searched through the maze of houses and various other destroyed buildings, looking for the other two members of his family. "If you can hear me, say something!" Suddenly they heard a weak groan coming from a second mine that delved deeper into the earth. "Kisara!" Joey shouted, then everyone ran toward where the sound had come from. The white dragon was chained to the wall with rusty manacles, and even from a distance, Seth could see the extensive injuries on her legs and arms. He ran over to where Kisara was held captive and carefully cut the shackles with his magic.

The barely-conscious Kisara fell to the floor on her hands and knees, trying to regain her breath after being suspended by her wrists for so long. She looked gratefully at her saviors and tried to stand up, but then remembered her broken leg too late and fell back with a cry of pain. Seth knelt next to the young woman and picked her up bridal style as Joey and the others looked around for the other member of the Kaiba family. The group left the torture chamber and returned to the main square where Téa had stayed with Mokuba, who was still shattered from what had happened in his duel with Dark Seto.

Seth gently set Kisara on the ground and retrieved the Millennium Rod from behind his back. Silently reciting a simple healing spell in his mind, he restored Kisara's leg with hardly any effort at all. Then he helped her to stand up. She walked over to Mokuba and put a hand on his shoulder. "I'm sorry, Mokuba. My Ka was not enough to aid you in your battle. I am sorry for the confusion that I caused."

Slowly Mokuba looked up, hardly daring to believe his ears. _Wait, Kisara was the Blue-Eyes? Not Seto?_ He whispered, "My brother is still alive? He– he wasn't destroyed?"

Kisara nodded. "I only tried to encourage you in that duel. I didn't think that you would mistake my Ka for Seto. Sorry about that."

"Hey Kisara," Joey began. "What happened to Noah? Wasn't he wid you?" he asked, looking around for the young green-haired boy.

"He was, but then Marik took him to another place. I don't know where, but I can still faintly sense him. He's somewhere in this city. We must find him!" Kisara replied, walking off to the entrance determinedly, but then collapsed to her knees and started breathing heavily. Seth ran over to her and cautioned, "Take it easy Kisara. You are still very weak from what that monster did to you. Here, let me help." he offered, supporting the young woman with his right arm. Kisara gratefully put her left arm over Seth's shoulders and together the two exited the room, their friends following close behind.

Suddenly they heard maniacal laughter coming from a cavern near the south end of the city. "Marik," Seth breathed, hatred and loathing burning in his eyes like the flames of Tartarus. As they were running, the group met up with the Ishtars–who had heard the laughter as well and were preparing themselves for the battle. Together the group of friends ran to the dark cavern where their friend and brother was being held captive.

As they ran to the area where they would face Marik, a tall shadowy figure blocked their path. The eleven heroes froze as Dark Seto stepped out of the darkness and between them and their destination. He wore a patronizing smirk on his gaunt face, and a foreboding gleam in his eye showed that he would not back down without a fight –to the death. Seth whispered to his comrades, "Stay behind me, my friends. I can handle this foe."

"No you can't, Seth!" Mokuba whispered back in warning. "Only the original creator can destroy their dark side! And that's Seto! Please, I don't want you to get hurt!"

Seth smiled back at his younger brother in an encouraging way and answered, "I am Seto's other half. His _true_ 'yami'. Just as Atem was to Yugi when he lived among you before. I'll be fine." After he said this, he bravely stepped forward toward the enemy, who was still grinning evilly. _I think._ he thought nervously to himself.

"I see that the whelp has recovered. I guess he didn't care about his 'Nii-sama' that much after all." Dark Seto laughed, mockingly imitating the way Mokuba referred to his older brother. Mokuba silently stared at Seto's evil half with hatred as Seth walked over to the fiend and prepared for a battle of spells. "Honestly. Is _this_ the best you can do? Sending in a weak spellcaster who just _happens_ to resemble my weaker half, and hoping that he just might be able to defeat me? HA! Pathetic!" then he turned and addressed Seth directly. "Your 'hikari' already tried this and failed as one of the most powerful Duel Monsters! What do you think _you_ could possibly do against me?"

"Quite a bit." Seth answered calmly, then gathered his energy for his most powerful offensive spell. However he was not able to cast it, for just then something occurred that no one had expected. A strong, powerful voice filled the room, encouraging the group of eleven friends and striking fear into the heart of their opponent. "You should have known– that it is not so easy to destroy the Blue-Eyes White Dragon."

A portal opened in the roof of the cavern as a shining form descended slowly to the ground. As the being came closer to the floor, Téa gasped, "I– I can't believe it. It's Kaiba!"

The dragon-warrior landed gently next to his twin, who smiled and nodded solemnly in welcome. Kaiba would have returned the gesture, but he was completely focused on his dark half, who couldn't believe his eyes. "It– it can't be! I destroyed you!" he roared in disbelief and anger, glaring at his good side with loathing. Seto silently returned the glare, azure flames of righteous anger burning in his blue eyes.

"You will pay for harming my little brother, demon." Seto vowed, venom dripping from his every word. He silently drew his Sword of White Lightning, and the blade crackled with 10,000 volts of pure-white electricity. Seth smiled grimly and followed suit, retrieving the Millennium Rod from behind his back and advancing on his foe.

Dark Seto started to feel a twinge of fear as the two warriors approached, and he abruptly changed tack. "Wait, Seto! You don't understand. This was all Marik's idea– yeah! _He_ was the one who told me to duel your brother in a Shadow Game! And– and I saved Mokuba from enduring a Penalty Game! I–I can help you, Seto!" the fiend begged, looking absolutely pitiful as he did so. Inwardly though, he seethed with disgust and hatred for his 'hikari'. He had no intention of actually aiding these pathetic fools. This was all an elaborate trick to get Seto to drop his guard.

Seto scoffed. "Tch. Not a chance, you monster. I haven't forgotten about the incident where you almost killed Seth– and me– a few months ago. Prepare to return to the pit of Hell from whence you came." he threatened, stepping closer to the seemingly struggling doppelganger.

"Wait!" Dark Seto cried, now appearing to be grasping at straws. "Remember how it was when I was a part of you?" he grimaced in revulsion, but thankfully his face was still partially hidden in shadow so Seto didn't see it. "We were completely in control of everything! We were the undisputed champion of Duel Monsters! The day that the pharaoh came along and separated us was when everything started to fall apart!" he stated desperately. "Join with me again Seto, and regain the power and control we once possessed!"

At this Kaiba stopped for a moment, considering what his dark side had said. "_No_ Seto! Don't listen to him!" Mokuba cried. "He's just trying to trick you! _Seto_!" the young boy pleaded, immediately seeing through the evil clone's ruse. Seto looked down at the floor and closed his eyes for a long moment, appearing to think about the past that his dark side had described. Eventually he returned his gaze to his doppelganger and replied, "You're right. I _did_ have everything. But I wasn't in control. I could see what you were doing, yet I was powerless to do anything about it. You almost _killed_ Mokuba because he lost to Yugi! [See the manga of Death-T or Season 0] That day that the Pharaoh defeated me– sure he stole my title, but he _gave_ me something better. Freedom." At this, he turned back to smile at Atem and Yugi, who grinned back. "For the first time in years, I saw the light and what I had become. My loss in that duel was probably the best thing that's ever happened to me." he stated with a grim smile, causing his dark side to back up a few paces more in fear. "You've just given me one _more_ reason to destroy you. Thanks."

Dark Seto was backed up against the cavern wall now, honestly terrified and gibbering in panic as the dragon-warrior lifted high his blade and cried, "Now come forth Blue-Eyes, and judge this dark soul with your divine power!" A second portal opened high above and behind him, out of which the white dragon soared and hovered above its summoner. Rearing back its head, the legendary beast unleashed an enormous burst of White Lightning at the being of shadows, and with an ear-piercing, wraith-like shriek, Seto Kaiba's dark side was banished to oblivion, never to walk this earth again.

Its task completed, the white dragon with blue eyes turned to its master, and he nodded once in thanks. The dragon roared happily, then flew back through the portal to its home and disappeared from sight. Seto watched the dragon go with a solemn smile on his face, then turned his gaze downward to look at his friends. All but Seth were staring at him with their mouths open, as they had never seen him in his dragon armor until now.

"Seto?" Mokuba whispered roughly, trying to recognize his brother behind the powerful warrior that stood before him. Seto smiled wider and removed his helmet, then knelt down on one knee as his beloved little brother ran up to him and nearly tackled him in a hug. "Mokuba." Seto breathed softly. "You don't know how much I've missed you, how long I've yearned to embrace you as your brother again. I'm so glad you're all right."

"Same here, Seto! You're finally home." Mokuba answered, tears of joy running down his face. Finally, after months of worry and fear, the young boy's family was together again! Well mostly. They still had to rescue Noah from that deranged psycho. Apparently Seto was thinking the same thing, because he then said, "Come on, kiddo. Let's save our other brother from that freak. Malik, Odion, Ishizu–" He addressed, looking at the Ishtars, "Good luck. You're gonna need it."

Malik grinned and nodded. "Thanks Kaiba." Then the twelve heroes ran through the dark tunnel to where Noah was imprisoned by Marik.

* * *

><p>Upon entering the next cavern, everyone gasped in horror. This new cavern was five times the size of any of the ones that they'd seen so far, and in the center of the room stood an ancient ritual pyramid that resembled the ones that the Mayans had used in their day. On the very top of the altar stood Marik, grinning evilly and holding a length of rope in his right hand. The rope twisted itself through a series of pulleys and was tied to a wooden stake that was braced against a giant, spiked wheel. Seth cried out in dismay when he saw that Noah had been bound to the wheel of torture with thick leather bands, his head resting limply on his bare chest. "Ahh, Fate has finally delivered to me the final piece of this wonderful game that I designed. Welcome, my guests! I have been waiting for you to arrive –and so has your precious brother!" he laughed, giving the rope in his hand a yank, removing the brace from the wheel to which Noah Kaiba was bound. With a squeaky grinding noise that reverberated through marrow and bone, the wheel began to spin slowly, and with each turn, the bound body of the young boy was torn by a set of sharp blades that were protruding from the ceiling above the wheel itself and below it on the bricks.<p>

"That's sanguimancy, master Malik," Odion explained grimly. "Instead of using his own strength for his spell-casting, this sick monster uses the blood of others as the source of his power. As long as the young Kaiba is bound to that wheel and his blood flows, our enemy will be almost invincible. Ishizu and I will try to buy you some time, but our powers are not limitless –you must go up there and free this poor victim from that sick fiend!"

Malik nodded grimly, then backed up and silently returned to the shadows while his dark half was concentrating on his siblings and friends. Suddenly Marik snapped his fingers and caused the hundreds of torches to light themselves with yellow-orange tongues of flame. Immediately the room was lit up, and the newcomers were able to see the ornate carvings and reliefs that adorned the walls of the perverted temple. The scenes depicted the ancient denizens of Sodom in the act of doing unspeakable things to other humans–to their sacrifices–which they sent to their god Baal.

"Stop this right now, you creature!" Ishizu shouted, turning Marik's attention to her. "Why do you do this? You have so much power already, why torture others to gain more?" she cried, staring in horror at the young son of Gozaburo Kaiba.

"Why? Because it's fun!" Marik crowed. "You're right, I don't _need_ any more power, but the sweet music of my victims' cries and the heavenly scent of their blood is like none other to me. Would you care to join him?" he asked gleefully, creating an orange ball of flame in his right hand.

Ishizu wordlessly created her own orb of fire, this one burning with a royal purple light. _Does this answer your question, savage?_ Ishizu thought angrily, sending her ball of flame rocketing towards her brother's dark side. Marik also commanded his fire sphere to counter Ishizu's, and so the battle began.

…

The different parts of the chamber were alternately set aflame in flickering shades of orange or purple whenever one of the circling flames was directed there by its controller. Both Ishizu and Marik were concentrating absolutely on their respective fireballs. They chased their trajectories with their eyes and controlled their course by moving their hands in strange yet artful gestures, similar to the way a master puppeteer brings his puppets to life. Each time the orbs of flames crashed into each other, a bright white flash lit the ceiling, pillars and walls, and a shower of sparks fell to the ground.

Meanwhile, Malik was making his way carefully to the wheel where young Noah was bound. On his way he grabbed a long wooden beam and braced it over his shoulders, for he needed something to stop the spinning wheel with. Looking back for a moment, his heart sank at what his saw.

His sister's powers were fading, Malik could feel it. He redoubled his efforts to get to the top, using trims and even the crumbly reliefs that displayed scenes of unparalleled perversion as his steppingstones. Although his movements were catlike, more than once he would have fallen had it not been for his grim determination to free Noah and end his dark doppelganger's atrocities once and for all. Frescoes broke off under his feet and his shirt was sliced apart by a sharp metal spike, which left a long –but thankfully not deep– scratch across his muscular chest. And yet Malik did not even notice the pain, so focused was he on his destination.

On at least one occasion, the two fighting flames came dangerously close to him. As he felt their heat on his back, he came into the sight-line of his nemesis for a short moment and was afraid of Marik noticing him as he dangled from the wall. Thankfully the latter was obviously too absorbed by his magical battle with Ishizu, who was–despite her limited amount of strength–still more than a match for her opponent.

Finally he leaped onto the top of the wall right next to the spinning, rattling wheel. From this distance he could hear the heart-wrenching, weak moaning of Kaiba's tortured step-brother. The blood from his back and front was dripping into a groove just underneath the torture wheel. This groove lead all the way to the platform's edge, from which the crimson liquid dripped down onto his dark half, who apparently had no problems with showering in blood.

Quickly, Malik used the log he had grabbed before and jammed it into the rotating wheel. For a moment he was afraid it would be crushed, yet the torture wheel was a primitive mechanism which was only set in motion by the victim's weight. Using his pocketknife, he cut through the leather straps that had bound Noah's wrists and ankles to the contraption in order to free him –and not a second too soon. From the corner of his eye, he could see that his sister had collapsed onto her knees and that her movements–just as those of her fireball–were strikingly slow and aimless in comparison to his demon's.

While he climbed down the wall with Noah on his bare shoulders, he glanced up to the fighting fires. Obviously Marik could sense Ishizu's weakness as well, for he had just steered his missile into a sharp turn so that it was charging Ishizu's fire head-on. The two balls of flames clashed in the middle of the room–red-orange and purple lights flashing and sparks raining down–but after the gleaming light was gone, only one fireball remained circling through the room. Ishizu's.

Ishizu immediately took to the offensive. Accompanied by a howling noise that echoed through the empty halls of Sodom, her magic flame drove downwards, leaving its target with no time to react or counter the approaching missile. The blast knocked Marik over and he crashed with a sickening crunching noise against the ornamented wall behind him.

"Argh. Pests!" Marik growled as he struggled to get to his feet again. His clothes were darkened with ash, but apart from that he appeared to be unharmed. Odion took no risks and maintained the shield around his family and Noah while he shouted: "Give up, fiend! Without the blood of a victim you are powerless!"

"Are you sure about that?" Marik's eyes were gleaming with madness–even more so than they usually did–and his grin broadened until it almost stretched from one ear to the other as he drew out a long curved dagger from his belt.

"No illumination without pain," he hissed, then he drew the dagger across his own right palm. Red lifeblood gushed out of the wound and Marik moaned with pleasure as he dug his nails into the lesion, immersing his fingertips in the garnet liquid. To the obvious disgust of his opponents, he licked off a portion of the blood from his index finger, then conjured a new fireball with his left hand, this one twice as big as the one before. Sensing that Ishizu was too weakened to battle any longer, Odion stepped forward to face the monster that he had bravely suppressed for most of his younger brother's life. He quickly nodded to Seth, who immediately understood the unspoken request and created another shield around his family and the others.

Odion approached the twisted doppelganger and conjured his own fire-sphere–this one a bright green–and directed it at Marik's head, intending to defeat him once and for all. Marik merely smirked and bent himself backwards, easily dodging the missile. Flipping backwards and onto his feet again, he directed his fireball to counter each one of Odion's movements. The blazing orbs crashed into each other at such velocity that it was hard for the others to track them with their eyes. Seth and Atem–having had experience with this kind of battle before–watched the match with interest mixed with trepidation. He knew that Marik was their foe, but Seth couldn't help but admire the skill with which he commanded his projectile.

After what seemed like hours, both spellcasters were beginning to grow fatigued. Odion was breathing heavily and beads of sweat were running down his face, so great was his concentration. Marik gave no outward sign of his condition, but he grudgingly had to admit that his arms were getting tired from commanding his fireball without rest for two matches. Suddenly he grinned and only commanded his orb with his left hand, creating another fireball with his still-bleeding right hand. He shot it like a bullet at the rest of the group, momentarily forgetting about Seth's shield. Once he remembered, he growled in frustration and commanded the fire-sphere to change direction and attack Odion from behind.

Unfortunately Odion hadn't noticed when Marik had created his second fireball, as he was concentrating on the first. Because of this, he didn't sense the second until it was too late. The ball of flames struck him in the back and he was thrown forward and fell onto the hard bricks of the altar floor, a large burn mark marring the middle of his spine.

"Odion! NO!" Malik cried, leaving the safety of Seth's shield and running at his dark side, hatred and anger burning in his eyes. He whipped out his pocketknife and charged the fiend, cleverly and carefully deflecting the huge circling fireballs with his small blade. While he was concentrating on the missiles, he didn't notice that Marik was quietly chanting a freezing spell. Suddenly he found that he was frozen in place, as were the rest of his family and friends. When its creator had been immobilized, the shield that Seth had conjured to protect his friends dissipated, unable to draw any more energy to maintain itself.

Marik smirked as he approached his light side. "A valiant effort hikari, but a vain attempt nonetheless. Thanks to the young Kaiba brat, I have more power than ever before! Did you honestly believe that you could defeat me with a simple paring knife?" He threw back his head and howled with laughter, spraying half-dried blood everywhere. He advanced on the helpless young man, gloating in his victory. "You were never a match for me, you pathetic fools! I only allowed you to progress this far for my own amusement. Now let me show you how these good people of Sodom used to entertain themselves–" Drawing his curved dagger again, he prepared to plunge the blade into his frozen good side's back.

But then something happened that no one saw coming. A harlequin-masked man dove out of the shadows behind Marik and caught the fiend in a headlock. As soon as the demon had been trapped from behind, the freezing spell was lifted from the heroes and Yugi gasped, "I don't believe it– it's Arcana, the Dark Magician master!"

Arcana looked up in curiosity when he heard his name, but then returned his gaze to his captive, who struggled fruitlessly against the former magician's hold. "You promised me, you fiend. And you broke that promise! Catherine was never there, waiting for me to defeat Yugi and the pharaoh! I searched for _years_ but could never find her! What have you done with her, you monster?!" Arcana cried, practically strangling his former master. Hoarsely, Marik laughed, "I never had anything to do with your 'Catherine'. She's still living somewhere in France, unaware that you–her only love–are still alive. HA! If _I_ were her, I'd have abandoned you long ago."

"She's alive?" Arcana breathed slowly, hardly daring to believe it. Meanwhile Malik had grabbed his dark side's arms and tied them together behind his back with the leather straps that had bound Noah. As soon as Marik's arms were restricted, the cursed fireballs burned themselves out, unable to draw more energy from their creator. He then pulled the rope from its system of pulleys and bound his dark side so that he could not move. Preparing to send his doppelganger back to the Shadow Realm permanently, Malik took a deep breath and concentrated.

"Wait Malik! I– I can help you! _I_ was the one who got you all the way to the Battle City finals! _I_ was the one who commanded the Rare Hunters! When I was a part of you, we had everything! And we can have it again!" the demon begged, seeing no mercy in his 'weak side's eyes.

"Not a chance, you monster. I haven't forgotten. You nearly killed my sister! Not to mention all the innocent people you hurt in Kaiba's tournament: Mai, Ryou, Joey. And you hurt young Yugi when you dueled the Pharaoh!" He turned back to his friends, and addressed the former Guardian of the Millennium Rod. "Seth? May I borrow the Millennium Rod for a moment? I know that it now belongs to Kaiba, but it accepted me as its master before. It might work for this one last time." Seth nodded, then walked over to the other Egyptian and handed over the sacred item. The Eye of Wdjat glowed when it passed to the young man, and Malik muttered, "I know that I am not your master, but please lend me your power once more so that we may defeat this evil once and for all."

"Hurry, master Malik! We cannot hold him much longer!" Odion groaned. Indeed, Marik was already cursing wildly and trying to break loose from his siblings' grip. Suddenly Marik stopped squirming, his face grinning with sheer malice. "They deceived you. Both of them," he said with bared teeth. "Your sister and the idiot you call brother, they never forgave you for what you did! Isn't that right?" he asked, turning to Ishizu.

"Ignore him," Odion said with disgust. "He speaks nothing but lies, and he's not even bothering to make them original."

But Malik didn't answer. He simply looked his darker half in the eye, standing at arm's length away from him, the hand with the Millennium Rod hanging at his side. Taking the young man's silence as encouragement, Marik went on. "Original? How's _this_ for original: Destroy me, and you destroy your own soul!"

"You. Filthy. Liar."

The words had escaped Malik's mouth without him moving his lips, but everyone turned their gaze toward the young man.

"Was it a lie when I told you I would give you power? Wealth? Glory? When you led the Rare Hunters in Battle City, you were the most feared man of the city, remember? That which has been can repeat itself, if you once again show the courage to embrace me as a part of you! Let us work together! You and I, Malik! Just think of what we could achieve!"

"Being the most feared man alive? That's one life I do _not_ want to live," the young Tombkeeper said while taking another step toward his enemy. "I refuse what you offer!"

"You didn't refuse my help back then when you were a child. Remember? I was the one who murdered your fa– OOF!"

Malik's punch had been swift and hard, and Marik was caught completely off-guard when his hikari's clenched fist connected with his chin.

"You're right, you killed my father. But I am no longer the same person as I was back then. When I was a child I had no choice in accepting you, but today things are different. Today the decision lies with me and me alone. And I _refuse_ you, Marik!" The young Tombkeeper had tears in his eyes as he spoke, yet his voice was calm and clear. A familiar sound filled the air as he removed the Millennium Rod's lower handle, revealing the sharp dagger inside.

Marik's eyes widened in shock at the sight of his hikari's determination, and the tone of his voice became high-pitched and begging as he spoke. "PLEASE! PLEEEAASE! STOP IT, YOU IDIOT!"

Ignoring the madman's pleas, Malik forcefully drove the blade deep into his darker half's throat. Ishizu and Odion had already let go of their captured foe by now, and they silently watched as the cruelest person either of them had ever encountered collapsed onto his knees and pressed his hands against his throat in a vain attempt to stop the blood from gushing out of the gaping wound.

One last time the fiend moved his mouth as if trying to speak, but the only sound that came from his lips was convulsive gasping. Marik's bloodshot violet eyes then lost focus as he finally fell over and crashed face-first onto the unforgiving stone floor.

The ensuing silence was only broken by the distant sound of dripping water in one of the mine's tunnels. The conquering heroes had formed a vaguely-defined circle around their enemy's motionless body and looked on as the darkness around the corpse seemingly came to life, engulfing and consuming Marik for all eternity. As the fiend's remains were engulfed by the dark clouds of the Shadow Realm, Malik, Odion and the rest of the gang relaxed. It was finally over. The Ishtar brothers and sister returned to the rest of the group, who sighed with relief at Marik's long-awaited demise. Seth handed the Millennium Rod back to its rightful wielder, and Seto knelt down next to his step-brother and wordlessly healed the boy's wounds with his power.

Seth raised an eyebrow at his brother's actions, but Seto just shrugged and picked up the unconscious Noah and carried him fireman-style–that is, over his shoulder. Then the group slowly made their way out of the mines, making sure to remove any evidence that trespassers were ever there. Arcana quietly followed at a distance, not sure if his new allies completely trusted him yet. Suddenly Yugi stopped in his pace for a few moments to walk beside the former performer, encouraging, "If you want, we could help you find Catherine. I can see how much she means to you. I'm sure that Kaiba can find her somehow, with all the gadgets that he's got." Seto looked back and nodded, saying, "It's the least I could do to thank you for helping us. I don't think we could have succeeded without you."

"Hey guys? How are we gonna get back to the airport? We only have two Jeeps, which will only hold eight people. What are we gonna do about the extras? We don't have enough fuel for two trips, either." Mokuba said, worried.

"Easy. I can carry a few people on my back as a dragon. Blue-Eyes is strong enough to carry at least four people without breaking a sweat. Anyone who doesn't want to drive in the vehicles can ride on my back." Kaiba offered.

"Seto," Seth addressed. "You will not need to worry about me, Kisara and Atem. We can simply use our Shadow powers to transport anywhere. We will meet you at home in Domino. I wish you all safe travels, and hope to see you soon, my friends." he said, addressing Yugi and the gang as he, Atem and Kisara walked into a portal and disappeared.

"I'm riding with Seto!" Mokuba called, sitting by the still-unconscious Noah as Seto began to transform. His cape changed to snow-white wings, and his helmet morphed into the real dragon's head. His body and legs grew in size and a tail spread from the end of his spine. Unlike the first and second transformations–which were unbearably painful–this change felt completely natural, just as natural as switching one's clothes when the weather changed. No pain at all came from this admittedly-intriguing morph, in fact the sensation felt almost pleasant.

When Seto had fully assumed the form of a dragon, he lay down so that his passengers could get on. He picked up Noah by the back of his collar with his mouth and carefully placed him on his back. Mokuba then climbed on behind his step-brother, then Arcana followed, not completely sure that Seto wouldn't make him fall off right in the middle of the desert. Seto sensed his thought, then shook his head to himself. He didn't particularly _like_ the Dark Magician duelist, but he wouldn't do something like _that_. When everyone had climbed into the vehicles and the three people on Seto's back were ready, the white dragon took off into the sky as the two Jeeps started their four-hour drive back to Cairo airport.

…

Upon arrival, Seto flew into an empty hangar and transformed back, then quickly removed his armor and stuffed it into a backpack that Mokuba had brought for him, revealing a black turtleneck and black pants beneath. Slinging the bag over his shoulder, he slipped on his sandals and left the building before some workers saw them in a restricted area. Walking to the parking lot, the brothers and Arcana met up with the others, who were just getting out of the rented Jeeps. It was there that the team split up and said their goodbyes. The Ishtars were going to return home to the apartment in which they lived, and they wished their friends a safe journey back home. The group of seven people nodded, not including the still-unconscious Noah, who was on Joey's back. Then the party entered the main airport building to book a flight back home.

While they were waiting in the lobby for their plane, Noah woke up in the slightly-uncomfortable airport chair and looked around in confusion. On either side of him sat his brothers, Seto and Mokuba. Seto smiled at his step-brother and muttered, "It's all right. We beat those creeps that kidnapped you and Kisara. You can relax now. It's all over."

Noah sighed with relief and leaned back in his chair, still exhausted from that traumatic experience that he'd endured. After about two hours of waiting, the flight attendant announced that their plane was ready for boarding and the eight people turned in their tickets and boarded the aircraft bound for Domino, Japan. When the Kaiba brothers had found their assigned seats, Mokuba claimed the window seat, Noah sat in the middle and Seto was left with the aisle-seat. The CEO then reclined his chair back as far as it could go without bothering the passengers behind him and fell asleep immediately, not having realized how tired he was after the confrontation and the following trip to the airport.

…

Hours later as the plane was flying over North America, Mokuba looked over at his brothers. Noah was sleeping soundly, his head leaning on Seto's shoulder and a smile gracing his young face. Mokuba grinned and shifted his gaze to his other brother, who was also fast asleep. Seto was leaning his head against Noah's, looking so peaceful and cute that Mokuba had to whisper quietly, "Aww." Next to them and across the aisle was Joey, leaning back in his seat and snoring quietly with his mouth wide open. Yugi sat next to him, his head resting on his collarbone as he dreamed. Téa sat on Yugi's other side, wide awake and smiling at her three sleeping friends, Tristan snoring gently next to her. When Téa noticed Mokuba looking at her, she smiled and nodded to the black-haired boy. Mokuba waved quietly, then pointed with a grin at his two brothers. Téa snickered quietly when she saw the sight, then echoed Mokuba's comment, mouthing, "Aww." then returned to her original position in her seat.

…

The next day when their plane landed in Domino airport, everyone was glad to be home, finally free of the threat that had been hanging over their heads for weeks. Every one of their friends and family members was waiting to greet them at the airport, and as they embraced their friends, Yugi sighed, "There's no place like home."

* * *

><p><span>The End<span>

*Sigh* _Finally_ done with this chapter! That took _forever_!

HUGE thank you to Araghast for helping me with Mokie's duel and with Marik!

When Kaiba said that his dark side had almost killed Mokuba, I was referring to the manga/Season 0, where Mokuba and Yami battle in Death-T 4, the Capumon level. The room was designed to trap the loser in their worst nightmares, but Yami pulled Mokuba out at the last second. Aww, he _does_ care!

Thanks to all of you who reviewed, favorited or alerted this story! Cookies for everybody!

Well, see you next time!

Tsunami Storm


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